For an authoritative and up to date view come to the 45 minute presentation by Jane Lambert, author of the IP Chapter of The Doing Business After Brexit and editor of the NIPC Brexit blog.

Any one of four things can happen between now and 29 March 2019:

• the draft withdrawal agreement may be ratified in which case EU law will continue to apply to the UK until 31 Dec 2020 at the earliest;
• the notification to withdraw from the EU may be revoked in accordance with the Court of Justice's decision in C-621/18 Wightman and others v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union which case the UK will remain a member of the EU and Union law will continue to apply indefinitely;
• the two-year notification period may be extended in accordance with art 50 (3) of the Treaty on European Union in which case the EU law will continue to apply to the UK at least for the extension of the notification period; or
• nothing may happen at all in which case the UK will leave the EU at 23:00 on 29 March 2019 and the Treaty of European, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and all regulations and directives made under those treaties since 1 Jan 1973 will cease to apply to the UK.

Since many of our IP rights subsist under, derive from or are interpreted in accordance with EU law any of those outcomes is bound to have far reaching consequences for businesses and individuals in this country and those doing business in this country. The IPO and Secretary of State for Exiting the EU have published guidance notes but that become outdated almost as soon as they appear. For an authoritative and up to date view come to the 45 minute presentation by Jane Lambert, author of the IP Chapter of The Doing Business After Brexit and editor of the NIPC Brexit blog.