Your trademark is priceless and it deserves protection

To be eligible for trademark registration, a trademark must be distinctive for the products or services for which it is used/protected. A trademark may not describe a characteristic, nature or origin of the goods or services. In general, a trademark cannot be misleading or offensive either.

At IPCO we always assess, with no strings attached, whether a trademark meets the legal requirements.

When filing an application for a trademark registration it is always necessary to indicate the products or services for which the trademark will be used and therefore for which protection is desired. For administrative reasons, products and services are classified into categories, the so-called Nice Classification. This classification comprises 45 classes, of which 34 are product classes and 11 are service classes.
The classification determines the scope of protection of the trademark.
A thorough selection of the classes and the selection of the product and service designations is part of strategic considerations.

There are various types of trademarks. The best-known types are: a word mark (such as IPCO), a figurative mark (pure logo: such as the Nike-swoosh) or combined word/figurative marks. You can therefore register the same trademark in different ways, depending on the distinctive elements for which you wish to obtain protection.

A trademark registration procedure starts with a trademark application filed with a government body (authority). The authority will check whether the trademark meets the legal requirements and will then publish the trademark for opposition purposes. During the opposition phase, owners of older trademarks have the time to object (file an opposition). The opposition period is a fixed period, usually 2 months (Benelux) or 3 months (EU). If there is no refusal or no opposition, the trademark will be registered.

A trademark attorney is usually a professional in law specialized in the protection of intellectual property rights and has completed a 2 year professional training. A trademark attorney knows all the ins and outs of and for the protection of trademarks and designs and can also take effective action in the case of infringement. Although applying for a trademark may seem 'simple', there is a lot involved in ensuring that it is properly protected. Professional guidance is therefore a must.