🇬🇧 Country guides

Trademark registration in the UK

How to protect a brand in the UK after Brexit: the UKIPO, why the EU trade mark no longer covers the UK, common-law passing off, and the Madrid route.

LG
The LawyerGo Team
· 5 min read
Trademark registration in the UK

Brexit changed UK trademark strategy in one fundamental way: an EU registration no longer reaches the UK.

File with the UKIPO

National applications go to the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO). Crucially, an EU trade mark (EUTM) no longer covers the UK — existing EUTMs were cloned into comparable UK rights at the end of the transition, but new UK protection now needs a separate UK application.

Common-law passing off

As a common-law country, the UK also protects unregistered brands through passing off, which guards established goodwill; registration still gives clearer, stronger rights.

International

The Madrid Protocol can extend protection to the UK (and from a UK base outward) through WIPO. Registration lasts ten years, renewable.

For foreign brand owners

Anyone relying on an EUTM for UK cover needs a separate UK filing. A verified UK colleague can clear the mark and file with the UKIPO.

Fees and procedure change — confirm with admitted UK counsel.

LG
The LawyerGo Team
Editorial

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