A Brexit bonanza for tourists and brand owners?
The Spanish word “bonanza” means calm sea and fair weather. Idyllic holiday conditions, in fact. The weakness of the British pound (the pound is now between 8 and 17% weaker against other currencies than it was before the Brexit vote) is supposed to be good for people coming to the UK on holiday. But brand owners may benefit too. It means UK firms have become better value for money than they were before.
In fact, latest figures just released by the UKIPO suggest that this is what other people think too. There has been a spike in UK trade mark filings since the Brexit vote on 23 June 2016. The biggest jump has been in overseas applicants filing UK trade mark applications – up from 2893 in the first six half of the year to 4763 in the second half.
Some of these filings will be new marks, of course. In Bulletin No. 4, we explained why many trade mark and design owners are filing UK national applications alongside new EU trade mark and design applications. However, at the Marques Conference in Alicante in September 2016, a number of corporate members admitted to refiling their entire EU trade mark portfolios as UK national applications. This is because the same logic applies to existing EU trade marks as to new ones. To remove the uncertainty of dividing out later, it makes sense to file corresponding UK national applications now, and not to wait until division is possible.
So, if you don’t fancy the British weather, you could always spend your pound at the UK IPO instead.
