Sports & Entertainment Beat

Brexit, the United Kingdom’s (UK) decision to leave the European Union (EU), has made headline news in recent months.  Brexit is already impacting trademark rights in Europe, including in the sports and entertainment industry.

New UK Filings Required.  Trademark rights are conferred on a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction basis.  Going forward, brand owners will not be able to rely on a single EU trademark filing to cover the same geographic territory in Europe.  In light of Brexit, brand owners now need to file trademark applications in the UK as well as the EU to protect their trademarks in the same geographic territory.  For years, separate trademark filings in Norway and Switzerland (and other European countries falling outside the EU) have been required.  Brexit adds the UK to the list of countries requiring separate trademark applications in Europe.

Back in the olden days of last year, there was no particular reason for entertainment industry players to be particularly interested in the actual administration of the Internet, unless they were just curious.  Now, it benefits every brand owner to understand and pay attention to the basics of how new domain names come into being, who selects them and how they become public.