Having said it would do so in the first half of the year, the UK government has just managed to meet its deadline of launching, on 7 June, its consultation on the future regime for exhaustion of IP rights and parallel imports – as Roland Mallinson, Chair of the MARQUES Brexit Task Force, explains.

Full details and submissions can be made here. The consultation closes on 31 August 2021.

The outcome clearly could have a major impact on brand owners and whether they can rely on UK trade mark rights to prevent the import into the UK without their consent of genuine branded goods first put on the market with their consent outside the UK.

The MARQUES Brexit Task Force is considering whether a common position can be agreed amongst MARQUES members such that a submission from MARQUES can be made.

The most likely options to be considered are (1) international exhaustion (2) UK-only exhaustion and (3) something along the lines of the pre-Brexit scenario of regional EEA+UK exhaustion.

If you would like to propose a position for MARQUES to take and/or to be involved in this debate, please contact Roland Mallinson at r.mallinson@taylorwessing.com.