EU Commission Wants To Have Its GI Protected Parmesan And Eat It

With the 'Brexit' negotiations between UK and the 'EU27' ongoing, the European Commission has published a position paper on intellectual property rights.

The Commission's position is that the anticipated 'Withdrawal Agreement' should ensure that:

"(a) the protection enjoyed in the United Kingdom on the basis of Union law by both UK and EU 27 holders of intellectual property rights having unitary character within the Union before the withdrawal date is not undermined by the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union;

(b) procedure-related rights (e.g. right of priority) in relation to an application for an intellectual property right having unitary character within the Union still pending on the withdrawal date are not lost when applying for an equivalent intellectual property right in the United Kingdom;