On 31 December 2025, it will be five years since the United Kingdom left the European Union. After this date, owners of UK clone registrations (with a 009' or 008' prefix) will no longer be able to rely on use of their mark within the EU to support a claim of genuine use and/or reputation of their UK clone registrations.

As a result, UK clone registrations that have not been used in the UK during the five years prior to 1 January 2026 will become vulnerable to total (or partial) cancellation for non-use, leaving rights holders unable to take enforcement action before the UK courts and unable to rely on their UK clone registrations in opposition or invalidation proceedings before the UK Intellectual Property Office.

In anticipation of this important milestone, it is imperative that rights holders diligently review their portfolios of UK clone registrations in order to establish the extent of their past and present use (within the UK), and ascertain any future plans to exploit these potentially valuable assets in the UK, after 31 December 2025. 

Where such rights have not been used on the UK market, but continued protection is still desired (in whole or in part), rights holders should consider commencing (genuine) use of their UK clone registrations as soon as possible and/or possibly filing new UK trade mark applications in order to safeguard their UK rights.

Post by Gavin Stenton, partner at Penningtons Manches Cooper and Chair of the MARQUES International Trade Mark Law and Practice Team. For more information on this topic, please contact a member of the Team

Picture from the MARQUES archive