Event Report: Trade Mark Conference 2018
Last month, this Kat attended the Thomson Reuters Practical Law 4th Annual Trade Mark Conference at etc.venues in London. The Impact of Brexit on Trade Marks After the formal welcomes and introductions, the first Plenary session kicked off by heading straight into everyone’s favourite topic: the impact of Brexit on trade marks. The panel of experts (Kate O’rourke Mbe Senior Counsel, Charles Russell Speechlys; Simon Gray Partner, Tomkins; Simon Malynicz Qc Barrister, 3 New Square; Dominic Farnsworth Partner, Lewis Silkin) considered such questions as: Where are we now? Representation rights during transition and post Brexit; The shape of the UK’s relationship with the EU after the transition period – progress; The shape of IP law in the UK in the longer term; How is the UK IPO gearing up for Brexit?; What should IP lawyers and in-house IP teams be doing to prepare for Brexit? As readers can probably imagine, the general take-away message was one of uncertainty and concern. For practiti...