Trademarks

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Any sign that makes it possible to distinguish one company's products and services from those of another company, may be registered as a trademark. A trademark may therefore be composed of a single character or a combination of characters, letters, words (including slogans) or figures. The trademark may be composed of drawings, symbols, three-dimensional signs such as the shape or packaging of the product, sound signs such as musical or vocal sounds or even colours.

In general, a trademark is registered for a certain class of products or services, and for a 10-year period, which is renewable indefinitely.

Ideas, concepts and scents cannot be registered as trademarks, but commercial names and advertising slogans can, under certain conditions.

Registering a trademark for a patented product or a registered design may considerably increase the commercial value in terms of value of a business or visual identity, upon expiry of the patent or the registered industrial design.

Availability of the trademark

Registering a trademark provides statutory rights that, under certain conditions, will prevent other people from using the trademark without the owner's prior authorisation, thus preventing counterfeiting. Anybody may register a trademark: a private individual, a self-employed person, a public limited company or any other legal person. It is possible to conduct research online to check whether a trademark exists in the registers of:

How to get protection

The Benelux countries no longer have a national trademark filing office, since protection automatically covers the territories of all three countries. The right to the Benelux trademark is acquired by filing the initial application with the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property.

If the commercial activities extend to a European level, it is in the concerned party's interest to file an application with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in order to register an EU trademark. EU trademarks are legally applicable and benefit from uniform protection across the entire territory of the European Union.

If a company is a trademark holder and wishes to obtain international protection, the Madrid Agreement and the Madrid Protocol on the international registration of trademarks make it possible to protect this trademark in all of the contracting countries by filing only one application with one office, in one language and paying only one set of fees in a single currency (Swiss Francs). An international registration produces the same effect in the designated countries as a national procedure followed in each of the States individually. To request the registration of an international trademark, you must already be the trademark holder or have at least made the same application at a national level.