This year marks the final milestone of the Brexit trade mark transition. After 31 December 2025, owners of an EU mark or a UK mark can no longer rely on use of their mark in the other jurisdiction to meet use requirements.
As a result of the Brexit negotiations, EU trade marks that were registered prior to Brexit were cloned onto the UK national system but with the existing EU information, including priority date. This was designed to ensure that the holder of an EU trade mark would not lose protection in the UK.
Both the EU and UK allow for a trade mark to be challenged after five years from registration date for non-use.
In order to prevent any quick-fire non-use actions from being filed against the 'cloned' UK marks a five year 'grace period' was granted to allow owners of those 'cloned' marks sufficient time to commence use of their trade marks in the UK.
From 1 January 2026 that grace period ends. So, from that date, the owner of a UK registration, including those created as part of the Brexit 'cloning' will need to demonstrate use of their trade mark in the UK and will no longer be able to rely on use in any EU member state.
If you are an owner of a UK 'cloned' trade mark registration, now is the time to make sure that plans are well underway for use of that trade mark in the UK directly to be able to defend against any non-use attack.
We have a significant number of clients with trade marks registered in the UK, so we encourage anyone in this situation to reach out to the team for further advice.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
