The Internet and domain names

The Internet is the collection point of your Intellectual Property. To offer your product or service, or to promote your company, you give the visitor to your website a taste of what your company has to offer. Your logo flashes at them from the top of the page and your brand name is mentioned several times, your operations are explained and you have of course paid a great deal of attention to the design of the page. All in all, it has become a valuable collection of your Intellectual Property.

To offer your product or service, or to promote your company, you give the visitor to your website a taste of what your company has to offer. Your logo flashes at them from the top of the page and your brand name is mentioned several times, your operations are explained and you have of course paid a great deal of attention to the design of the page. All in all, it has become a valuable collection of your Intellectual Property. Ever since the beginning of time, entrepreneurs have wanted to expand their market area as much as possible. The Internet now offers countless opportunities. You can now reach the entire world without having to undertake dangerous journeys to far away places. In the past, trading across the sea was a dangerous business. There were always pirates trying to sink your ship and relieve you of your precious cargo.

So you think that times have changed and that pirates are a thing of the past?

They still exist; they are just not as clearly recognisable as they once were. Modern-day pirates surf the Internet and secretly download your precious cargo. If you sell your product or service on the Internet then you should be aware of the fact that by doing so you are giving millions of people access to your Intellectual Property. You might say: "That's exactly what we want to do, it's a good thing". Indeed, it is all about drawing attention to your product. Unfortunately there is always a catch. If your product is not protected then anyone can take your idea and put it on the market. Instead of expanding your market internationally, you could, in the very worst case, even be deprived of the opportunity to do business locally.

The laws that regulate trade on the Internet are still in their infancy. It is likely to take quite some time yet before there is any definitive legislation, in particular because various international treaties are still in the process of being drawn up.
This is why it is of utmost importance to derive as many rights from the existing options as possible. We would advise you to seek professional advice before making your Intellectual Property public. After all, you always have to invest a great deal of money in design, market research and promotion etc. before you can launch a product or service onto the market. It is important to safeguard this investment.

The value of a domain name has increased sharply with the rapid development of the Internet. It is therefore important to also register your domain name as quickly as possible.


What is a domain name? 

Most people know what a domain name is, but here is a brief summary anyway. It is a unique address that makes it possible for people to reach you on the Internet. A domain name could be compared to a telephone number. Just like a telephone number, which is made up of a country code, area code and a subscriber number, a domain name is also made up of different parts. The last part of the domain is referred to as the top-level domain; this generally indicates the country in which the domain name has been issued. However, if you operate on the international market, it is also possible to choose a more international top-level domain (e.g. .com, .edu, .net, .gov, and .mil) instead of a country (e.g. .nl). The part of the domain name that precedes the top-level domain consists of a name chosen by the applicant. This name is usually the name of your company or of the product that you sell (mark).

Has your domain name been hijacked?

Suppose that your company name is "Y" and you have introduced product "X" onto the market. In order to promote your product more effectively and expand your sales market, you decide to put this product on the Internet. You want to have www.X.nl as your domain name. A pirate has already registered this domain name. He will try to sell you this domain name for a substantial amount of money. It is obvious to you that this pirate registered the domain name in bad faith. Even so, in order to force him/her to give up the domain name, you will have to be able to provide proof that you were using this name first. As your company carries the name "Y" you will not be able to invoke the Trade Names Act.

The only way that you will be able to prove that you were the first to use that name, and that the pirate registered the domain name in bad faith, is if "X" is protected by the Trademark Act. Your registration not only makes it possible for you to prove that brand "X" belongs to you but also makes it possible for you to produce the official date as of which you have used this brand name. The same also applies the other way around: if you have not registered the domain name www.X.nl (your product) then a pirate can register this name and you are too late. This tells us that it is not only important to register your domain name in time, but also your brand name.

You can use the search function below to find out whether or not the domain name you would like to have is still available. We would advise you to reserve the domain name immediately if the results from your search are positive, even if your mark is not yet registered.

Controleer hier of uw domeinnaam nog beschikbaar is: www. .nl/.be/.com/.net/.org/.info/.biz

Hands off - Copyrights!!!

Your website often contains photographs, illustrations, imaginative texts etc. It is also beautifully designed and you are extremely proud of it. You stand out from the rest because your website is oozing originality. To prevent a situation in which your texts, illustrations, photographs etc. are used by others, in good or in bad faith, it is recommended that you place a "© with your name and the place and date on which the idea was devised" at the bottom of your web page. To make things even clearer, you can also make explicit mention of the fact that the website is protected by copyrights and that nothing from the website may be copied of reproduced without your express permission.

It is advisable to have any texts, photographs, illustrations etc. officially dated by the Registration and Succession Register beforehand. Why not take another look at the chapter on copyrights referred to on this website.