Last week the European Union (EU) gave its approval for the UK to delay its exit from the EU beyond 29 March 2019, without requiring the UK Government to revoke Article 50 and cancel Brexit. Legislation giving effect to the delay has now been approved in the UK Parliament.

The UK's departure will be delayed at least until 12 April 2019, with the possibility of a longer delay.

This means that the measures put in place to ensure seamless protection for intellectual property rights holders (for example as reported here for trade marks and designs) will not come into effect until at least 13 April 2019.

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