If you want to set yourself apart from your competitors, you register your own trademark at a charge. After registration, other parties are not allowed to use your trademark. There are different types of trademarks, such as:
- word marks
- pictorial marks
- shape marks
- colour marks
- sound marks
You can register your trademark with the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP). This offers you protection in the Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg). If you are also active outside the Benelux, you can expand your protection. If you want to know if a trademark has already been registered, you can consult a trademark database(in Dutch).
Drawing or design
If you came up with a new design or new drawing, you can have it registered with the BOIP at a charge. If you also want to sell outside the Benelux, you can expand your protection. To find out if your design or drawing is new, you can consult a designs registry.
Idea, concept or prototype
An idea alone is not intellectual property, so protecting it is not possible. But it is possible to protect the implementation of the idea. The i-DEPOT allows you to prove that your idea already existed on a given day. You can submit the i-DEPOT on line to the BOIP. This can be a first step to a trademark, design, or patent application.
Cost Calculator for the protection of Intellectual Property
You can calculate how much it costs to register a trademark, design, or idea in the Cost Calculator for Protection of Intellectual Property.
Trade secrecy legislation
A trade secret is valuable business information that is unknown to other parties. The Trade Secrets Protection Act (Wet bescherming bedrijfsgeheimen, Wbb) protects trade secrets against violations, such as theft and unauthorised copying.
