Early on the morning of 24th June 2016, the results of the UK referendum on ‘Brexit’ were issued – and overall the UK voted to leave the EU. The country was split relatively evenly, but the result will lead to the UK beginning the process of leaving the EU in due course.
The important thing from an IP perspective is very much that there is no need to worry. There is no effect on the existing European patent system, which is a higher-level organisation covering more countries than just those in the EU. The UK is still an intrinsic part of the European patent system, and therefore it is very much business as usual for the time being.
The full impact of voting ‘out’ during the Brexit referendum will play out over the next few years, but what about the immediate impact? We’ve put together a short video addressing key concerns that you might have about Brexit and IP in view of the vote to leave:
If you are UK-based and interested in filing a European patent application for your invention, this option is still very much open to you. Please do contact us if you would like further information, or take a look at our European patents page which explains more about the application procedure.
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