sutton044

Photo c/o @AARCS_Canada As the Brexit [excitement/disaster/debacle - readers can pick their preferred option] starts to heat up, the IPKat has an update from Darren Meale who has been closely following the countdown to "B-day". Over to Darren: Following Rosie’s post here , the following is an update on my countdown to Brexit from the brands perspective, last written about at the T-266 days point .   We don’t know that “no deal” will happen, but it seems a whole lot more likely than it did when I wrote my first 680 days to Brexit post. Sigh. If there is a “deal”, things should play out as I described here , although there’s plenty of detail lacking on that. If there is “no deal”, the UK government says it will deal with trade marks and designs as set out in this notice . Exhaustion of IP rights is dealt with in this notice and copyright (not discussed further here) is covered in this one . Geographical indications (also not discussed further here) are covered in anothe...

Exhaustion is the hot Brexit topic du jour. Regardless of the industry, changes to the exhaustion regime are set to affect everyone in ways both predictable and unpredictable. This Kat has had lots of messages from friends in very different sectors wondering what on earth exhaustion of rights could mean and why everyone is so worried about it. The note goes some way toward answering both questions. What is exhaustion? The guidance note has this helpful explanation: The exhaustion of IP rights refers to the loss of the right to control distribution and resale of that product after it has been placed on the market within a specified territory by, or with the permission of, the right holder. A parallel import is a non-counterfeit product which is imported into a country where the intellectual property rights in that product have already been exhausted. The UK is currently part of a regional European Economic Area (EEA) exhaustion scheme, meaning that IP rights are considered exhausted onc...