The Executive Director of the EUIPO has released new guidance for procedures based solely on UK rights in the event of a no deal Brexit, see here.

UK right holders engaged in inter-parties proceedings at the EUIPO should be aware of how pending proceedings may be affected in the event of a no deal. 

The guidance covers a number of scenarios, including the following:

- Prior to withdrawal day, inter-parties action (such as an opposition or invalidity proceedings) which is based solely on earlier UK rights and which will not be concluded by withdrawal day will be suspended.

- Where EU inter-parties actions are based solely on UK rights, if the UK leaves without a deal on withdrawal day then those earlier UK rights will cease to act as “earlier rights” for the purposes of inter-parties proceedings.

In the UK, legislation has been passed to ensure the continuing operation of the Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC) system in the event of a no deal, see here.

The UK government has published a guidance document here.