With an International Registration it is quite cheap and easy to claim protection abroad. At present, 120 countries are already members of this treaty. Canada joined on June 17th 2019. Beside the fact that the application costs are much lower, the costs to maintain one’s rights are also more attractive. » trademark-registration

The Benelux trade mark office can refuse a trademark if it feels that this is descriptive. This decision can be appealed at the Benelux Court of Appeal. In the past ten years the Court of Appeal in The Hague has almost always followed the line of the BOIP, but at its latest decision from December 2018, the BOIP is suddenly overuled. A sign of hope for the future? » trademark-registration

In China the number of trademarks filed is the highest worldwide. Comparing, in the Benelux 22,000 trademarks are filed per year, whereas an astounding 7.7 million trademark applications were filed in China last year. To combat the practice of trademark hijacking, a new law has been passed in China to deal with bad faith filings. The law will enter into force on 1 November 2019. » trademark-registration

In the Netherlands we have a very quick procedure in place to get an immediately enforceable banning order issued by court (the so called Art. 1019e). However, recently courts have become somewhat reluctant to grant such a request, in fact it is almost never granted anymore, the problem being that the opposite party has no right of speech. Only in the case of an obvious infringement this measure is sometimes still granted. » trademark-registration

There are more possible trademarks than just a logo or a word. Other characteristics also have the ability to distinguish one vendor’s offering from another one’s. A shape, sound, motion picture sequence or a pattern. However in practice it can prove difficult to get these kinds of marks registered. The authorities often assume that the consumer does not perceive these as a trademark, the shape is seen as commonplace. However it looks like this might change in the near future. » trademark-registration