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Intellectual Property
The following rights belong to the "Intellectual Property rights":
Trade name rights
Trade name rights (e.g. Trade Name Act) protect the trade name of a company in a certain area or part of an area for a certain category of services or goods. A trade name is registered in the trade register at the Chamber of Commerce in your region.
The trade name may not be misleading when it comes to the ownership or the corporate structure of the company. It is also a requirement for the trade name to stand out in some way in order to be eligible for protection. A bakery that uses the trade name Baker cannot be protected as such. Trade name rights do not offer any protection for logos and/or signs. You obtain trade name rights by trading, not by registering at the Chamber of Commerce.
Trademark rights
Protection under trademark rights (Agreement of Benelux Intellectual Property) can be obtained for:
- Individual trademarks:
Any sign used to distinguish a company's products or services can in principle be regarded as a mark. The following items are distinguished as eligible for protection under trademark rights: distinctive names, slogans, marks, shapes, colours, sounds, smells and images.
- Collective trademarks:
Trademarks that serve to distinguish one or more common characteristics of goods or services, originating from different companies, mainly act as quality marks. For example, the KEMA-keur, the wool mark, etc.
You can only obtain exclusive ownership of a trademark by filing it. The use and development of the mark alone does not give you any rights. You can defend yourself against third parties that wish to introduce an identical or similar mark for the same or similar goods or services onto the market as soon as you have registered your mark.
What conditions does a product or service have to meet to qualify for protection under trademark rights?
Above all, a mark has to have distinctive characteristics. This means that a given product or a given service has to be recognisable by means of the distinctive mark of a certain company. Examples of this include the shape of the "Wokkelzoutje", the colour orange for Libertel and the soundmark Für Elise. The more distinctive the mark, the more protection it offers. An application to register a mark can be refused on the following grounds:
- the mark is not distinctive enough,
- the mark is descriptive (i.e. the mark describes the goods or services),
- the mark is an infringement of public order or common decency,
- the mark is misleading...
A trademark offers protection for a period of 10 years. At the end of this period, the protection can be renewed and thus extended indefinitely, for a period of 10 years at a time. This distinguishes trademark rights from other rights, because these only offer protection for a limited period of time.
The consultants of CTC-ITP can carry out an investigation in order to establish whether or not the mark that you have developed meets the conditions for registration. They can also advise you on the availability of the trademark.
Design rights
These rights (e.g. Agreement of Benelux Intellectual Property) protect drawings (two-dimensional) or
models (three-dimensional) created with the aim of developing a product with a utilitarian function.
Examples of this include a design for a wallpaper, vase or chair. Design rights do not protect those
aspects that are essential to achieving a technical effect. The exclusive rights to a design can be
obtained by filing an application for registration.
One of the requirements for filing an application for registration is that the appearance of the product must be novel. 'Novel' is taken to mean that the product's appearance did not enjoy de facto notoriety in the industrial or commercial circles concerned for a period of 50 years prior to the date of filing. The product itself does not have to be novel.
The period of protection for a drawing or a model is 5 years. Design rights
can be renewed 4 times and thus extended by a period of 5 years each time.
Design rights protects for a maximum of 25 years.
Patent rights
Patent rights (e.g. 1995 Patents Act) protect novel inventions that are based on
inventive steps and that can be used in some form of industry. The term 'invention' refers to
inventions consisting of devices or products as well as inventions consisting of industrial processes
or methods of operation. The term 'novel' refers to the fact that an invention must never have been
made public in any way prior to the date on which the patent application was filed (state-of-the-art search).
To be eligible for protection an invention has to meet three requirements:
- it must be novel
- it must involve an inventive step, and therefore be inventive
- it must be capable of being used in some form of industry
There are two different kinds of patent:
- Patents that are valid for a period of 6 years ("registration" patents). These do not have to be subjected to novelty search beforehand, but can be subjected to an examination afterwards, if necessary.
- Patents that are valid for a period of 20 years, which must be subjected to a novelty search beforehand.
Cultivator's Rights
The old rights of cultivation are in 1967 replaced for The seeds and vegetables Law. This is a renovated arrangement of Cultivator's Rights. This arrangement offers protection for cultivation of products of farming and horticulture products (plants and fruits).
Chip Protection
Also called Topographic rights. This is a guideline that offers protection for topographys and semiconductors products.
Copyrights and neighbouring rights
This right (Copyright Act) offers protection for literary, scientific and artistic works. The neighbouring rights of copyrights offer protection for public performances of dramatic and musical works by performing artists, recordings by record producers, etc. Computer software and databases are also protected by copyrights. As the scope of copyrights has increased over the years, it is now also possible to obtain copyright protection on less obvious objects. Some examples of this are certain types of toys, clothing etc. The period of protection ends 70 years after the creator's death.
It is important to date copyrights!
Copyrights are dated in the Registration and Succession Register, which is important to you as the deviser of an original idea. If you have this idea officially dated, then you have the official date on which you (as the first person to do so) came up with this idea. An idea that only exists in your mind is a fantasy, and is ultimately not protected. When you have a brilliant idea, it is sensible to write it down and have it dated. Backdating by anyone else is of no use. After all, you have the official date from the Registration and Succession Register.
I-depot
In the event of a dispute, the I-depot is a fully reliable tool that allows you to prove that a certain idea, we rather speak about a concept or process, already existed on a specific day.
The Benelux office for intellectual Property will register your name and the date on which you submitted The I-depot. The information of the contents of your I-depot will not be revealed to anyone. It is full confidentiality. The I-depot exists of 2 envelopes. One will be filed in the register and one will be send back to you.
The I-depot can be an important first step in your innovation process, for example in the preliminary phase of an application for a trademark, design or patent.
Registration in the Benelux register. A registration of I-depot is valid for a period of 5 years. After 5 years the registration can be renewed for another 5 years.
The advantages of the I-depot envelope:
- Reliable proof.
- By the reproduction of your design in the envelope you can prove that the design is yours.
- If others maintain that they are the designers, you can proof with the I-depot the earlier existence of your design. The creation is dated.
Which conditions does an object have to meet in order to enjoy copyright protection?
An object has to be original. 'Original' is taken to mean: "that a piece of work has to have its own original character and must carry the creator's personal stamp". This means that protection of purely technical or functional elements are excluded from protection under copyright. Particular styles or fashions are also excluded from copyright protection. To be protected, it is important that the object in question is concrete. You can have the CTC-ITP advisors carry out an examination in order to determine whether or not an object can be protected under copyright.
Your image can also be protected
Portrait rights are becoming increasingly important in connection with the trade in merchandise, for example.
In America and England, this trade makes up a large part of sports stars and other celebrities' incomes. Protection can be enjoyed not only by sports stars and other celebrities, but by politicians and other dignitaries. However, even you as an entrepreneur can turn your well-known name and face into a trademark.
To obtain effective protection for this, it is advisable to also seek protection under trademark rights. Portrait rights (i.e. pictures of a famous person) in particular are not watertight under copyright. In order to nevertheless enjoy sufficient protection, it is possible to have ones image registered as a trademark, which provides you with better protection.
Slogans
Slogans are also protected. Think of the Grolsch slogan for example: "Vakmanschap is Meesterschap" or "Komt tijd komt ..." Above all, a slogan has to be original. You can protect your slogan by having it registered in the Benelux Trademark register and the GVR slogan register. This prevents your slogan from being abused. This register has a preventative effect. There is also the option of registering a slogan as a trademark.
The combination of your rights is the power of your protection
Anyone who wants to protect knowledge should not restrict themselves to one single statutory form of protection. When introducing a new product, it is important to use a combination of forms of protection so that all aspects of the product enjoy optimum protection.
Database rights
A supplementary right on copyright since 1999. It concerns the right of a producer of a database.
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