Loading...
Loading...
Thousands of brand owners hold comparable UK trademarks that were cloned from EU registrations on 1 January 2021. From 31 December 2025, EU-based use no longer counts towards the UK use requirement. If you have not been using your mark specifically in the United Kingdom, your registration may be vulnerable to revocation.
Time-sensitive for all comparable UK trademark holders. The transition period ended on 31 December 2025. From 1 January 2026, only genuine use in the UK satisfies the use requirement. Brand owners who have relied solely on EU-based use should take action immediately.
All existing EU trademark registrations cloned into comparable UK rights
Transition period ends; EU-based use no longer counts for UK use requirement
Only genuine UK use satisfies the use requirement going forward
Period of non-use after which a mark becomes vulnerable to revocation
When the UK left the EU single market on 31 December 2020, EU trademarks (EUTMs) ceased to cover the United Kingdom. To protect existing rights holders, the UK government created a "comparable UK trademark" for every EUTM that was registered on that date. This happened automatically, at no cost to the owner, and without any application.
Each comparable UK right inherited the filing date, priority date, and seniority claims of the parent EU registration. The result was that approximately 1.4 million new entries appeared on the UK trademark register overnight. Owners of these rights received independent UK protection that could be enforced, renewed, and maintained entirely separately from their EU mark.
The legal basis for this sits in The Trade Marks (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (SI 2019/269), as amended, and Schedule 2A of the Trade Marks Act 1994.
Recognising that brand owners could not be expected to establish UK-specific use overnight, the government built in a transition period. During this period, genuine use of the mark anywhere in the EU was treated as equivalent to use in the UK for the purposes of the comparable UK trademark.
This was a practical concession. Many EUTM holders, particularly those based in continental Europe, had never specifically targeted the UK market with their mark. They had protection in the UK only because their EUTM covered all member states (and, until Brexit, the UK was one of them). The transition period gave these owners a grace window to begin building a genuine UK use footprint.
From 31 December 2025, EU-based use is irrelevant. The only use that counts for your comparable UK trademark is use in the United Kingdom. Selling goods in Germany, advertising in France, or providing services in Spain does nothing to maintain your UK right.
This change was always planned. It was built into the original Brexit withdrawal legislation. But many brand owners, particularly those outside the UK, may not have appreciated the deadline or its consequences.
The effect is that comparable UK trademarks are now treated identically to any other UK trademark for use purposes. The five-year non-use clock runs based exclusively on UK activity.
The concept of genuine use is well established in UK and EU trademark law. The leading authority remains the CJEU decision in Ansul v Ajax (C-40/01), and UK courts continue to follow this approach post-Brexit.
Genuine use requires:
Practical examples of UK use: selling products through a UK retailer or UK-targeted e-commerce site; providing services to UK-based clients; advertising in UK publications or on UK-targeted digital channels; exhibiting at UK trade fairs under the mark.
The brand owners most at risk fall into several categories:
Under section 46 of the Trade Marks Act 1994, any person may apply to revoke a UK trademark registration if it has not been put to genuine use in the United Kingdom within a continuous period of five years. There is no requirement for the applicant to show a commercial interest; anyone can file.
For comparable UK trademarks, the five-year non-use period is calculated from the date on which UK-specific use became required. In practice, this means that a comparable UK trademark with no UK use could face a revocation application from early 2026 onwards, depending on the specific circumstances.
Revocation can be partial (removing specific goods or services from the registration) or total (cancelling the entire registration). Competitors, new market entrants, and trademark clearance exercises frequently identify vulnerable marks and file revocation actions to clear the path for their own applications.
| Date | Event | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 31 Dec 2020 | UK leaves EU single market | EUTMs cease to cover the UK |
| 1 Jan 2021 | Comparable UK rights created | ~1.4 million new UK trademark entries |
| 1 Jan 2021 – 31 Dec 2025 | Transition period | EU-based use counts as UK use |
| 31 Dec 2025 | Transition period ends | EU use no longer satisfies UK use requirement |
| 1 Jan 2026 onwards | Standard UK use rules apply | Only genuine UK use prevents revocation for non-use |
It is worth noting that your EU trademark registration remains entirely unaffected by these changes. If you hold an EUTM, it continues to provide protection across all 27 EU member states. The changes apply only to the comparable UK right that was cloned from it.
This means you may end up with a live EUTM and a revoked comparable UK trademark, or vice versa. The two rights are now fully independent. For a broader comparison of UK and EU trademark protection post-Brexit, see our guide on UK vs EU trademarks after Brexit.
A comparable UK trademark is a right that was automatically created on 1 January 2021 as a clone of an existing EU trademark registration. Every EU trademark that was registered (or had been applied for and subsequently registered) on that date was replicated as an independent UK right at no cost to the owner, with the same filing and priority dates as the parent EU registration.
From 31 December 2025, only genuine use in the United Kingdom counts towards the use requirement for comparable UK trademarks. EU-based use will no longer satisfy this requirement. Marks that have not been genuinely used in the UK within the relevant five-year period could become vulnerable to revocation from 1 January 2026 onwards.
Genuine use means real commercial use of the mark in relation to the goods or services for which it is registered, in the United Kingdom specifically. This includes selling goods or providing services under the mark to UK customers, advertising directed at the UK market, and using the mark on packaging or documentation supplied within the UK. Token or minimal use designed solely to preserve the registration is unlikely to qualify.
Yes. Under section 46(1)(a) and (b) of the Trade Marks Act 1994, any person may apply to revoke a trademark that has not been put to genuine use in the UK within a continuous five-year period. For comparable UK trademarks, once the transition protection ends, the clock begins running based on UK-only use.
No. The comparable UK right already exists on the UK register. You do not need to file a new application. However, you do need to ensure you are actually using the mark in the UK. If you are not, the registration is at risk of revocation for non-use.