Following ‘Brexit’ and the 31 December 2020 (IP Completion Day), owners of EU trade mark registrations were granted an equivalent cloned UK registration (“UK Clone”).

These UK Clones will become vulnerable to third party cancellation actions for non-use in the UK by the end of this year, that is after 31 December 2025 (the “Date”).

Up until and including the Date, the owner of a UK Clone facing a non-use cancellation, can rely on evidence of use of its trade mark in the EU (as well as, of course, use evidence from the UK). Therefore, since IP Completion Day, EU use may be enough to save a UK registration from non-use cancellation, even if the mark in question has not been used in the UK itself.

From 1 January 2026, any evidence of use of a mark in EU Member States will no longer be relevant for defending a non-use cancellation action against a UK Clone.

After the Date, a rights holder must show that its trade mark has been put to genuine use in the UK market to defend a non-use action.

Such use needs to be actual commercial use, targeted at UK customers, where there is at least an attempt to create or preserve an outlet for the goods/services, in accordance with case law.  Although the use does not need to be on a large scale and will depend on the nature of the goods/services in issue, token use merely to maintain a registration, will not be sufficient.

Takeaways

Any owners of UK Clones may therefore wish to take the following steps in 2025:

• Review their trade mark portfolio to determine whether there has been genuine commercial use of key marks in the UK marketplace. This may be particularly important for overseas-based mark owners with no physical presence in the UK;
• Develop a strategy for real commercial activity, targeted and marketed to the UK, for any marks for which the UK remains an important market;
• Keep records of any plans and discussions around UK use and maintain a repository of evidence of examples of use to demonstrate commercial activity in the UK.

Separately, UK mark owners more widely could take the opportunity to review any UK Clones currently blocking the registration of a desired mark, with a view to instigating non-use proceedings early in 2026.