An intellectual property lawyer in the Netherlands helps you protect and enforce trademarks, copyright, trade names, designs, patents and trade secrets under Dutch, Benelux and EU law. A competitor copies your product, a Dutch company uses a name close to your brand, or you want to protect software, designs or know-how before you enter the Dutch market. In each case the first step is the same: establish which right you have and what it allows you to do. Below you will find, per right, the page that answers your question.
An infringement or a dispute about who owns a right affects your sales and your relationships with distributors straight away. We take the legal work off your hands: which right applies, which evidence you need and which step brings the quickest result. You keep your attention on your business.
Which intellectual property right protects what?
- Trademarks. A trademark protects the name, logo or other sign under which you sell goods or services. In the Benelux, a trademark right arises only through registration, as a Benelux trademark or an EU trade mark: read how to protect your trademark in the Netherlands. When someone uses a confusingly similar sign, see enforcing your trademark rights and what to do in a trademark dispute.
- Copyright. Copyright arises when a work is created, without any registration. Start with copyright law in the Netherlands; for the term of protection see how long copyright lasts, for granting others the use of a work see copyright licences under Dutch law, and for code see protecting software.
- Trade names. The name under which you run your business is protected through its use in trade: trade name law in the Netherlands. If another business uses a confusingly similar name, read trade name infringement.
- Designs. The appearance of a product can be protected as a registered Benelux or EU design and, at EU level, also as an unregistered design: design and model rights in the Netherlands.
- Patents. A patent protects a technical invention once it has been granted. When a competitor uses your invention without a licence, see patent infringement in the Netherlands.
- Trade secrets. Know-how, recipes and customer data are protected as trade secrets only if you take reasonable steps to keep them confidential: protecting trade secrets and confidential information and the Dutch Trade Secrets Protection Act.
- Portrait rights. Using a photo of a person in advertising can infringe that person’s portrait right: portrait rights under Dutch law and infringement of portrait rights.
- Plant varieties. New plant varieties have their own protection: plant breeders’ rights.
- Media and ICT. For publishers, broadcasters and technology companies: Dutch media law and Dutch ICT law.
- Copying without an IP right. A product that is copied while no IP right applies can still be unlawful as slavish imitation, a form of tort under Dutch law. Ask us whether this applies to your product.
What do you do when someone infringes your rights?
- Secure the evidence: screenshots, invoices, samples and the date on which you first noticed the infringement.
- Check which right you can rely on and who holds it, including any licences and the chain of ownership.
- Send a cease-and-desist letter with a clear deadline. Many cases end at this stage.
- If the infringement continues, ask the court for an injunction in summary proceedings. The page on enforcement of intellectual property rights sets out the measures available, including surrender of profits.
Which related areas matter for your IP?
Licences, confidentiality agreements and co-existence agreements are contracts: see NDAs under Dutch law and the hub Dutch contract law. For protecting a brand online and on marketplaces, read brand protection under Dutch law. How a case runs in court is explained under litigation in the Netherlands.
Would you like to know what this means for your brand, product or software? Contact our intellectual property lawyers or send us your question.
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Patent infringement occurs when someone, without your consent, performs one of the acts reserved to the patent holder, such as making, offering, marketing or using a patented product, importing or stocking it for those purposes, using a patented process, or
Trade name infringement in the Netherlands occurs when a business uses a name that someone else lawfully used earlier, or a name that differs only slightly, and the public may confuse the two businesses (Article 5 Dutch Trade Name Act).
Copyright in the Netherlands lasts until 70 years after the death of the creator, counted from 1 January of the year after the year of death (Article 37(1) Dutch Copyright Act). Different starting points apply to anonymous works, works made
A design right (modelrecht) protects the appearance of a product: its lines, contours, colours, shape, texture or materials. In the Benelux, the exclusive right arises by registration and requires that the design is new and has individual character (Article 3.1
You protect a trademark in the Netherlands by registering it with the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP) or, as an EU trade mark, with the EUIPO. Under the Benelux Convention on Intellectual Property (Benelux-verdrag inzake de intellectuele eigendom, BVIE),
A trademark dispute in the Netherlands usually turns on one question: does another business use a sign identical or similar to a registered Benelux trademark in a way that Article 2.20(2) of the Benelux Convention on Intellectual Property (BCIP) prohibits?
Portrait rights (portretrecht) are the rights a person has under Dutch law against the publication of a recognisable image of them. A portrait made on that person’s commission may not be published without their consent, unless otherwise agreed (Article 20
Profit disgorgement under Dutch law (winstafdracht) means that a court orders a copyright infringer to hand over the profit made from the infringement and to render account of it (Article 27a Dutch Copyright Act). A foreign rights holder whose photos,
Dutch media law sets the rules on what the media may publish and how broadcasters operate. Freedom of expression is protected by Article 7 of the Dutch Constitution and Article 10 ECHR. Broadcasting is regulated by the Media Act 2008
Brand protection under Dutch law rests on a registered trademark: in the Benelux, the exclusive right to a brand name or logo arises only through registration (Article 2.2 Benelux Convention on Intellectual Property). A foreign brand entering the Netherlands should
ICT law (IT law) in the Netherlands is not a separate code. It is the set of rules that apply to software, data, cloud and online services: Dutch contract law in the Dutch Civil Code, copyright law on computer programs