If you file an application for a patent, a trade mark or a design at the UK Intellectual Property Office (‘UKIPO’), you must have an address for service in the UK, Gibraltar or the Channel Islands. If a valid address for service is not provided, this could lead to the application being treated as withdrawn.

 

Following Brexit, the UKIPO created comparable UK trade marks and re-registered UK designs, to ensure that trade marks owners who owned EU trade marks or registered designs or had previously designated the EU in their International registrations did not lose their TM coverage in the UK when Brexit happened and the UK left the EU.

 

As of 1 January 2024, the UKIPO now require that, if you wish to change the address for service recorded against a comparable trade mark or re-registered design (provided the right was not derived from an international registration), the new address will need to be in the UK, Gibraltar or the Channel Islands.

 

All such comparable UK trade marks and re-registered UK designs created as a result of Brexit must have a recorded address for service in the UK, Gibraltar or the Channel Islands if the UK right is involved in any invalidation, rectification, or revocation proceedings. If the UK TM owner fails to do so, then the proceedings could succeed (without their involvement) and they could lose their UK right.

 

The UKIPO is now taking a much more proactive approach to ensure that the address for service requirements are complied with and are carrying out hundreds of checks. They now have a dedicated team in place within the trade mark examining area to deal with enquiries and complaints relating to address for service issues.