If a company only has UK protection for IP, this protection will not be effective in other countries, and others may be allowed to use this IP abroad without infringing any rights. If a business wants to trade abroad then it should consider registering its IP rights abroad with local IP registries.

For copyright the UK is a part of several international conventions. This means that UK works are protected in most countries automatically.

Some countries may allow a person or business to extend UK protection, and will accept it as protected in that country after completing certain local formalities. Information on countries which are willing to extend protection of UK IP rights to their jurisdiction, and processes for such an extension, can be found in the country guides produced by the IPO, here.