I AM helping startups, SMEs and multinationals.

Our Eindhoven-based office offers the full breadth of capabilities.

We focus on clients based in the Netherlands, and supporting foreign clients in the Benelux and the rest of Europe.

Are you a startup or SME that has not yet registered its company or brand name as a trademark? Don't wait too long, otherwise you run the risk of someone else beating you to it.

You can register your trademark yourself via the official websites of the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property and the Intellectual Property Office of the European Union. But do you know whether your brand is available, and do you have a good brand strategy that fits the future of your company? 

Stobbs can help you with this.

Why register your trademark?

Chances are that you sell your product under a name that your customers have started to recognise. 

This can be the name of your company or the name of your product or services. Maybe you also have a recognisable logo, slogan or an original product packaging. All these elements make up your brand, and your brand has value – probably far more than you think.

However, your brand is not protected unless you actively register the elements that make up your brand as a trademark.

 

Without registration:

Without registration, your business is exposed to a risk that your competitors copy elements of your brand. 

They can use names and logos that are identical or almost identical to yours and come up with packaging that looks very similar to yours. This can cause your customers to purchase the wrong product and harm the reputation of your brand – all of which results in a loss of profit.

With registration:

With registration, you can prevent or stop such harmful activities because you are the only one who is allowed to use your trademark. A registration in the Benelux or European Union gives you the powerful tool of claiming trademark infringement if someone else uses your mark, or a confusingly similar mark, without permission.

Besides this direct commercial advantage, companies that register their trademarks tend to be valued higher. This can be a huge advantage in an M&A context or when you are looking for investors.

Trademark registration is therefore an excellent investment for your business.

What can be registered as a trademark?

Almost all brand elements (“signs” is the legal term) can be registered as a trademark. This includes words, logos, product labels, slogans, colours, shapes and even sounds.

The most important requirement is that the sign is distinctive for the goods and services that you want to register it for.

The Designer” is not a suitable trademark for a design agency, just as “AI Phone” is not suitable for a mobile device with AI technology.

It is possible to work around these limitations by adding other elements. “The Hungry Designer” can be registered, and so can “AI Phone” if it is made part of a logo with distinctive visual elements. However, such registrations may not afford strong protection.

A second key requirement is that the sign that you want to register cannot be identical to, or likely to cause confusion with, prior trademarks for the identical or similar goods and services.

If somebody already registered “Blue Dot” for online gaming, you cannot register “Blue Dots” for computer games. Worse - your use may infringe upon the rights of others. This exposes you to a risk of being forced to stop using your trademark and pay damages.

Stobbs knows all the ins and outs of trademark law and advises on the best ways of protecting your brand and avoiding unnecessary risk.

 

How does it work in practice?

There is no single answer because it all depends on your organisation and its business plans.

Generally, the first step is to identify what brand elements are worth registering as a trademark based on the requirements mentioned above. A single registration is not very expensive and can be secured for less than €700 (including Stobbs fees, official fees and reporting fees). However, this adds up quickly if you want to register, for example, a word mark, logo, product label and slogan. Chances are that we can help you save costs.

Then it must be determined what goods and services to file your trademarks for. This should be broad enough to have wide-ranging protection, but not too broad to avoid incurring unnecessary expenses. That is because rights in respect of goods and services that you don’t use for 5 years become unenforceable.

An availability search is recommended to understand if another organisation already owns the identical trademark or similar trademarks that may cause confusion. Stobbs can perform these searches and help you interpret the results and identify risks.

At this point, we like to sit down with you to determine the best approach for your business, also taking into consideration any risks that were identified by the availability search.

For example, are you focused on the Netherlands? Or do you expect to also offer your product in other EU countries and beyond? We can help you decide if you should file a Benelux or EU trademark, and if it already makes sense to file your trademark in other jurisdictions. Getting the timing right can get you in a much stronger position to enforce your rights internationally.

It is also important to consider ownership of your trademarks. This may be obvious if your business consists of one legal entity, but for more complex organisations this can have significant legal and tax implications.

If there are concerns about prior trademarks, we can take steps to limit legal risk by filing your trademarks in a way that is less likely to result in a conflict, and we can come up with a plan to minimise commercial impact in case of objections. Better safe than sorry!

In most cases, it is possible to come to an agreement with other parties or to find other pragmatic solutions.

Our team consists of trademark attorneys that have many years of experience working for major multinational companies that rely heavily on the value of their brands.

We understand like no other that the solution to a legal problem depends on commercial considerations, and that there can be reasons to take manageable risks.

Once you have filed your trademarks in the relevant jurisdictions, Stobbs can monitor trademark registries for you and report on conflicting trademarks that are filed by other organisations. We can help you decide if action is necessary and what steps you should take to get to a quick and effective resolution.

As your business grows into new areas and expands into new markets, we can stay in touch with you to ensure that your trademark portfolio continues to meet your commercial demands.

Your registrations last for 10 years, so it is important to renew your registrations in time, and also to decide what old rights are no longer relevant.

 

What about costs?

We charge for services such as availability searches, filing trademarks and dealing with objections. However, we always aim to be among the most affordable trademark advisory firms despite our high-quality service.
 

  • Different from most other firms, we do not charge for the getting-to-know you. This means that you do not pay for an introductory meeting, agreeing on strategy, and periodical meetings.
     
  • For more complex advise, we are able to agree on capped or fixed fees, so you know exactly what you will pay.
     
  • If you ever feel that our pricing is not competitive or otherwise not right, do let us know. We always strive to be affordable.

 

About us

Stobbs was founded in 2013 with the aim of becoming the best global trademark advisory firm.

We do this by not only looking at brands from a legal angle, but also from a commercial perspective. 

Our team has many years of relevant business experience and understands that the best commercial solutions are often not purely legal in nature. We also believe that it is important for legal advice to be accessible to everyone and should not break the bank.

Contact

Curious about what we can do for your company?

We do not charge anything for an initial introduction and advice.

Email: eindhoven@iamstobbs.com

Telephone: +31 6 1974 4457

Eindhoven

Stobbs Netherlands B.V.
Kastanjelaan 400
5616 LZ Eindhoven