Euromarks provides practical advice on trademark protection and helps you research and register your trademark.

In addition to brands, we help you protect other forms of intellectual property:

• Models • Copyright
• Trade names
• Domain names • Patents

You can also contact us for the following matters:

• Oppositions • Denials of your existing request
• Invalidation Actions • License Contracts
• Demarcation Matches
• Takeover guidance, due diligence investigations
• Trademark Infringement (preparatory, collaboration with IP lawyers)

Founder Dick Elberse has 25 years of experience as a lawyer and trademark attorney with an international background.

After working in a partnership for 10 years (also founded after my law studies) I started working for myself with Euromarks in 2000. After several years of working with staff and interns, I decided in 2015 to work solo, with freelancers every now and then. With a network of agents for international work and good suppliers and contractors.

This set-up suits me best, I have noticed and it is therefore a conscious choice to stay small. Clients whom I have been helping with their brands for 25 years and with whom I have built a personal bond of mutual trust.

I have clients that I have helped with their brands for 25 years and with which I have built a personal bond of mutual trust

Availability inquiries

Questions Euromarks helps with:

Can I start using this name?
Is it necessary to register this name as a trademark, I already have a domain name?
I find others on the internet who already use the same name, does it still make sense?

In an availability survey, we first look at where (geographically) and for which products or services you want to use the name.

There are sources on the internet that are not from commercial parties and where you can already find a lot. These are listed in part below, but you can find more about them on a Euromarks project called TM2GO.

Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP) - is somewhat limited and not very user-friendly
TMView - very comprehensive, covers many countries
EUIPO - for the EU brands - also for logos!
WIPO - also extensive, a little less easy than TMView

For our research, we also use commercial databases that make it possible to obtain relevant results very quickly and e.g. to also immediately see whether the owner of a found trademark has often defended his trademark in or outside the courtroom.

The registers mentioned are official registers that don't "lure you in" with a rock bottom prize and later serve you the top prize!

tools for registration can be found at

Registration

After an investigation, we determine the best form and route for protection depending on the countries. The form concerns a) form of the mark (word mark, combined word / figurative mark, possibly both, etc.) and b) for which goods (products) and services. Drawing up this list of goods and services seems simple, but it is often not. The BOIP, EUIPO and WIPO have developed tools for this, you can find them on TM2GO. Even with these tools one can end up with different results with the different tools.

About the route: no, it is not always easy to determine. There are different "routes", so types of requests are possible. If you're sure you only want Benelux, then there aren't that many options, but that is quickly different in more countries.

Refusals

Account must be taken of the authority to refuse the trademark office itself. Euromarks will assess the probability in advance. There was a time when as soon as there were graphical elements, a registered trademark was not refused, but that is different now [include examples, with image].

Euromarks will also help you if you have filed (= application) yourself and your trademark has been refused.

Oppositions

Third parties can object to trademark applications, this is an almost universal principle nowadays: the trademark is published and there is a period within which a third party can initiate proceedings at the register called opposition. In some countries this is after registration. In the Benelux, the strange phenomenon of accelerated registration is also known, in which the opposition (and any refusal!) Follows after registration.

Surveillance

Once registered, it is necessary to "guard" the trademark. This can take many forms.

New trademark applications in the registered area
Social Media
Internet Content
Domain name registrations
Trade names

After signaling, there is always consultation whether an action is required. This can be opposition, but also approaching the other party first to try to negotiate a "delimitation" or some other type of agreement.

Invalidity and Other Actions

An example: suppose there is a registration in e.g. Germany and you want to apply for a trademark for the entire EU by means of an EUTM (you do not need to file a Benelux trademark application first). This registration can be a problem for your own EUTM, because the principle of the EUTM is: everything (EU) or nothing. So you get an EUTM that applies to the entire EU, but never an EUTM for part of the EU. If an earlier right (e.g. a trademark registration, but these may also be other rights!) Exists in even one EU country, then that trademark owner can oppose the EUTM with a cancellation action or opposition. You can then research the German brand: is it used (Google cannot always tell you this), how old is the registration? It often turns out that the brand is not "that strong". The choice is then: take action now (e.g. an invalidation action) or apply for a trademark for the EU and then wait to see if there is a response. At that moment - in the case of opposition - you can demand that the opponent provides proof of use (in this case in Germany).

Managing Brand Portfolio

This means that instead of automatically renewing registrations, the trademark attorney always checks whether that makes sense:

For example, a country has been added to the Madrid Convention, so that you no longer need to apply nationally
The logo (I call it even logo) has changed significantly
The goods and services have been changed or expanded (in countries such as the USA it is wise not to let the list be too extensive)

Agreements and other services

This mainly concerns:

License Agreements
Co-Existence agreements
Due diligence in acquisitions
Advice on patents, trade names, domain names
Finding an expert, if that expertise is not available or e.g. a lawyer if litigation is required