Exhausted by Brexit?

The UK now has the regulatory freedom to choose its own exhaustionof IP rights regime and to examine whether the current arrangements best servethe country’s interests. Charles Russell Speechlys’ MaryBagnall explains

Mary Bagnall,Charles Russell Speechlys

The UK government has published its consultation document onthe future regime for exhaustion of UK IP rights (IPR).Theprinciple of exhaustion means essentially that when an IP owner puts productson the market incorporating its IP rights, it cannot then prevent the further circulationof those goods into other territories (parallel imports) by enforcing its IPRin those territories. It limits the ability of IP rightsholders to control thedistribution of goods protected by those rights.