Yes, Brexit is still having an impact on trade mark law. As a reminder: Every EU trade mark was “split” into an EU trade mark and a UK trade mark (so-called UK clone) with Brexit. Since then, both trade marks exist independently of each other.
Both trade marks are also subject to a “deferred obligation to use”: If a trade mark that has been registered for more than five years has not been used in the last five years, it can be revoked by third party request.
The use of an EU trade mark in the UK until 31 December 2020 (Brexit) was deemed to be use of the EU trade mark. Vice-Versa, use of the UK clone in the EU until 31 December 2020 was deemed to be use of the UK trade mark.
This will end on 01 January 2026. These five years will be over on this date.
This is not a problem for EU trade marks, for which use in the EU can generally be proven.
But for UK clone trade marks, this has far-reaching consequences. Often the trade mark owners do not even know that they hold them at all. UK clone marks that have not been used in the UK in the