Brexit and the .eu domains

Even if you might think that .eu domains are not really very important, their distribution in Europe was quite high with 3-4 million registered addresses. However, British nationals and British companies (and therefore also a company trading as a limited company, for example) will no longer have the right to use them after Brexit. According to the latest statement from the responsible registrar, domains with Whois addresses in the UK will become inactive on May 30, 2019. The domains can be reactivated for up to one year, after which they will return to the free market. Even if the domain is only used to redirect to another domain and British WHOIS data has been stored there for whatever reason, this could lead to unpleasant effects from free riders or domain traders, which then have to be painstakingly removed with the help of trademark law. Incidentally, this also affects companies based in territories associated with the UK, such as Gibraltar.