On Thursday 23rd January 2020, global law firm Mayer Brown publicshed an article explaining the impact Brexit will have on data privacy, intellectual property and information technology matters.
Much of the EU legislation will be incorporated into UK law once we leave, meaning companies will still have to adhere to the same rules as they currently follow including GDPR, European-wide IP rights, international copyright treaties and the European Patent Convention.
However, EU Trade Marks will no longer protect trade marks in the UK, meaning further UK legislation will be needed. This is likely to cause some upheaval because, as Mayer Brown points out, each trade mark registered under the EU will have to be issued with a comparable UK trade mark. The same applies to registered and unregistered Community designs which will also have to be replaced on Brexit day.
These changes are a cause of great stress to companies operating both inside and outside the media industry, with businesses seeking legal advice to ensure their rights are protected once we leave.
In truth, I don’t believe this will effect the media industry too harshly as much of their rights will be automatically protected by comparable UK legislation on Brexit day. However, there is bound to be some cracks in the legislation which could cause problems later on.
Media Law Review 