Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what recent discussions he has had with the European Commission on the protection of intellectual property rights after the UK leaves the EU.

As referenced in the Government’s Summer Paper on Science and Innovation and the EU exit White Paper in May, the UK has one of the best IP regimes in the world, and leaving the EU will not change that: we will continue to deliver quality rights-granting services, lead the world in enforcement and engage in international IP discussions.

We have made good progress to date on discussions of separation issues, including IP rights, but we believe that this issue will be an important part of the discussions on our future partnership. We have been clear that in order to provide certainty to businesses and citizens we must talk about the future. For our part, we are ready to move these negotiations on. Doing so will allow us to best achieve our joint objectives and move towards a deal that works for both the UK and the EU.