Change of Focus

Author Daniel R Strebe 15 Aug 2011 Copyright waived  Source Wikimedia Commons

Jane Lambert

During the 2016 referendum campaign, I wrote that the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union would profoundly affect the laws that protect investment in branding, design, technology and creativity (see Were we to go - what would Brexit mean for IP 26 Feb 2016 NIPC Law). I noted that the nature and extent of that change would "depend on the sort of relationship with the rest of the EU that we could negotiate in the two years allowed by art 50 (2) of the Treaty on European Union." After a plurality of voters had voted for withdrawal, I followed those negotiations in this blog in order in order to make an educated guess as to how this country's IP law would develop.

Although there may still be further negotiations between the UK and the European Commission over the Northern Ireland Protocol for the reasons I discussed in British Proposals for Renegotiating the Northern Ireland Protocol on 29 July 2021, they are unlikely to result in major changes to this country's IP laws.  The legal framework following Brexit is set out in my article How Brexit has changed IP Law of 17 Jan 2021 and presentation of 26 Jan 2021 (slides and notes).

While bilateral treaties such as the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with Japan and the proposed Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement contain provisions on intellectual property, it is unlikely that any of them will require amending legislation. What might are the intellectual property provisions of the Trans Pacific Partnership which are incorporated by reference into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Chapter 20 of the Agreement between the United States of America, the United Mexican States, and Canada, the successor to the North American Free Trade Agreement.   I shall therefore focus in future on those developments rather than bad-tempered exchanges arising from the withdrawal and trade and cooperation agreements. 

HMG has embarked on a great experiment of decoupling from neighbours and allies with shared interests in the world's richest trading bloc and forming new relationships with fast growing economies on the other side of the world.  It is by no means certain that that experiment will succeed and my change of focus should not be seen as an endorsement of the experiment. But it is more relevant to the startups and other SME and their professional advisors that form the bulk of my clientele and require practical advice on IP prosecution, licensing and enforcement in the UK and any new markets that may open up as a result of the government's activities.

To reflect the change of focus I shall change the name of this publication from "NIPC Brexit" to "NIPC Internatiomal" and replace the monthly "Brexit Briefings" with targeted updates.   Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 during normal business hours or send me a message through my contact form.

Brexit Briefing - August 2021

British forces on their way to Kabul to assist with the evacuation

Author Ministry of Defence Licence OGL v 3  Source Wikimedia Commons

 

Jane Lambert

August was the month the government might have expected some positives from brexit.  An aircraft carrier strike group steamed through the South China Sea for the first time since 1968 when Denis Healey withdrew British forces from their bases east of Suez.  Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng published plans for the UK to become a science and technology superpower in 9 years time (see UK Innovation Strategy 12 Aug 2021 NIPC Inventors Club). Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden promised "a world-leading data regime" by "forging new global partnerships and designing our own common sense data laws" (see Dowden's Data Protection Plans 27 Aug 2021 NIPC Data Protection).

None of those announcements was noticed because attention has focused on the rapid collapse of a régime in defence of which 454 British service personnel lost their lives.  What will be remembered long after the fleet has returned to its base will be the emergency parliamentary debate on Afghanistan and, in particular, the words of the former Prime Minister:  "Where is global Britain on the streets of Kabul?" MPs and peers had harsh words for the United States and its government in that debate.  The US government gave as good as it got by inferring that the UK authorities were partly to blame for the casualties of the terrorist attack by insisting on keeping the Abbey Gate open.

There have been tensions and spats between the US and UK in the past as Philip Stephens noted in his article, Kabul retreat leaves the UK on a bridge to nowhere (26 Aug 2021 Financial Times).  These have been forgotten and forgiven as the UK stayed close to the only giant in Liliput.  But the decision of the last two presidents to withdraw from Afghanistan come what may has made that giant appear old and feeble, especially in contrast to the vigorous, youthful giant that is emerging in Asia.  The Chinese government's newspaper, Global Times, was not slow to question the strength of the US  commitment to Taiwan in the light of the evacuation from Kabul.  Aspiring to be Greece to America's Rome may have made sense during the pax Americana.   With the legions in retreat, it is much less easy to justify.

Although there are no immediate signs of it happening, August may be the month in which the British public begins to rediscover the advantages of collaborating with its neighbours.  When the Prime Minister argued in Parliament that the UK had no choice but to accept the American withdrawal, at least one MP asked why the government did not explore the possibility of working with other NATO allies to ensure an orderly withdrawal of nationals if not the continuation of the mission.  It is already clear that several of the UK's neighbours have overtaken the UK and other English speaking countries in vaccinating their citizens,  Also, none of them is suffering the distribution difficulties caused by the shortage of  HGV drivers with the ending of free movement of labour.   No amount of free trade agreements with countries on the other side of the world will solve those problems but closer cooperation with the EU might.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form.