Dr Luke McDonagh was quoted in this week’s House of Lords EU Committee report ‘The future UK- EU relationship on professional and business services’ on the possible impact of Brexit on trademark costs and additional bureaucracy for UK SMEs. The House of Lords Committee sought expertise on the legal consequences of Brexit for British companies seeking to apply for EU trade marks. Dr McDonagh explained that post-Brexit UK companies seeking to register new marks will have to apply separately for EU and UK trade mark protection, increasing the cost and administrative hurdles involved. He suggested the UK Intellectual Property Office explore ways to ease this burden which will impact SMEs more severely than large corporations.