On 15 May 2025 the UK government announced that it intends to maintain the current “UK+” regime for exhaustion of trade marks, designs, and other, IP rights.

What is “exhaustion” anyway? Basically, it happens when goods protected by an IP right, such as a trade mark or design, are first placed on a market in a particular place – whether that’s a single country, or a group of them – with the IP owner’s consent. Typically, this happens when the IP right owner sells the goods to consumers there. After that happens, the IP right is “exhausted” and the IP owner cannot prevent further dealings in the goods (meaning, mostly, their resale).

Prior to Brexit in 2021, the UK formed part of the EU. Therefore any goods placed on the market anywhere in the EU (or more accurately, the European Economic Area (EEA)) could be freely resold in the UK.

Upon Brexit, the UK was effectively cut out of the EU’s / EEA’s exhaustion territory entirely – meaning today that goods first placed on the market in the UK cannot be legitimately resold in the EEA / EU.

Conversely, the UK implemented “UK+” as its exhaustion regime. Goods placed on the market in the UK or anywhere in the EEA can be freely resold in the UK. Effectively therefore the UK continued as though still part of the EU.

Undoubtedly, this “setup”, which the UK has now decided to maintain, has its pros and cons. For UK businesses and consumers, it enables ready access to a wider range of goods from the EEA, potentially at a lower price (as the EEA can sell into the UK without the IP owner’s further consent). However goods first sold in the UK cannot be similarly sold freely into the EEA. For the UK, it’s good news for the influx, but not necessarily the outflux, of IP-rich goods.

For the EU / EEA, it has protected its economic borders for its member states (thereby continuing to grant them clarity and market “integrity”); but also potentially increased the cost and decreased the availability of goods from one of its nearest geographic neighbours.

As a firm with offices in both the UK and the EU specialising in trade marks, designs and copyright as well as cross-border licensing and distribution, we appreciate the clarity this decision brings for both UK and EEA / EU operators. Nevertheless the question of whether the IP rights in particular goods have truly been exhausted, and can therefore be shipped and sold either way between the UK and EU / EEA, will always remain.

For advice or to discuss how this decision may impact your business, please feel free contact our IP team.