Jurisdiction

Intellectual Property Law

Intellectual property law protects your creative efforts and innovations.

Intellectual Property Law (IP)

Intellectual property law protects your creative efforts and innovations. Whether it concerns the source code of software you have developed, the brand under which your products are known, your company name, or the unique design of a product, intellectual property rights ensure that others cannot simply use your creativity. They do not protect the physical object itself, such as a book or a gadget, but rather the creativity and the idea behind it.

Intellectual property law is a collective term that encompasses various rights, such as copyright, trademark law, patent law, database rights, and design rights. In addition, the protection of know-how and trade secrets plays a crucial role.

As the creator or rights holder, you have the ability to enforce your intellectual property rights and take action against anyone who copies or uses your work without permission. We advise our clients on all aspects of intellectual property law and assist in protecting their know-how and trade secrets.

Our lawyers provide advice and litigation support in cases involving infringement of intellectual property rights, as well as in situations where you may – intentionally or unintentionally – be infringing or at risk of doing so yourself. Technological advancements and modern developments mean that intellectual property law is constantly evolving. If you have any questions about intellectual property law, please contact Guldemond Advocaten.

Database Law
Trade name law
Trade Secrets and Know How
Trademark law
Design law
Copyright

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The LEGO Group takes action not only against counterfeit building bricks, but also against the (commercial) use of its word mark ‘LEGO’ outside the toy market. A recent substantive case before The Hague District Court centred on the fact that Boon Beton was offering concrete stacking blocks online using terms such as ‘Lego’, ‘concrete Lego bricks’ and ‘concrete Lego blocks’. The crux of the matter: LEGO is challenging, on the basis of its word mark, the way in which Boon Beton presents its products and makes them discoverable, in particular through the excessive and SEO-driven use of “LEGO/LEGO blocks” in web content.
A striking red ‘ball’ on a package may be a powerful point of recognition for marketers, but in trade mark law this is by no means a given: the question is whether the average consumer actually perceives such a simple visual element as an indication of origin and not merely as packaging decoration. A recent ruling by the Benelux Court of Justice concerning a shiny red circle/sphere on dishwasher tablets illustrates just how strict that test can be and why market context and sector conventions carry significant weight in this regard. In this blog, I use that ruling to discuss when a sign is intrinsically distinctive, when it is not, and how an initially ‘decorative’ element can nevertheless obtain trade mark protection through acquired distinctiveness.
You have a product that not only works, but also measures. And not only measures, but also communicates: for example, with an app, with the cloud, via a platform. That is exactly the sort of product that many entrepreneurs are making money from today — and which the EU Data Act (Data Regulation) focuses on. The ACM has now published (provisional) guidance on this, intended to explain to companies offering a connected product or related service what they need to do.

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