Trademark registration Belgium

If you want to register a trademark in Belgium, you can do so on a local, European and international level. If you choose the first – the basic registration – then you submit your application to the BOIP: the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property. Registration through this agency provides trademark protection in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. In the Benelux, the First to File jurisdiction applies, which means that the person who registers the trademark first obtains the exclusive rights to it. Only a registration with the Crossroads Bank is insufficient.

It is therefore important to register your trademark in Belgium, to ensure that third parties cannot use it. The BOIP is part of the BOIE: the Benelux Organization for Intellectual Property. Its tasks include promoting the protection of trademarks in the Benelux countries and continuously evaluating trademark rights in the light of international developments.

If you want to apply for registration of your brand name in Belgium, you always go through a procedure consisting of various standard steps. The first step is of course submitting the application. You will receive confirmation by e-mail within 24 hours. After receiving your application, the BOIP will examine the formal requirements, also referred to as the deposit requirements. If your application is approved during this first formal examination, it will be published in the Benelux trademark register. At the same time, the substantive assessment starts. At this stage, it is investigated whether the brand complies with the legal rules.

When your trademark appears in the Benelux trademark register, other entrepreneurs will have two months to object to it. They do this if they think that approval of your application is in conflict with the rights they have already acquired with their trademark. If someone objects to an opposition, a difficult procedure is started. In that case, it is best to hire a trademark advisor. If there is no opposition, trademark registration in Belgium can be granted. Filing a brand name in Belgium usually takes three months.

If you are going to register a brand name in Belgium, it is not necessary at that exact moment to actively use this brand. This is not a condition for granting the registration. On the other hand, it is true that active brand names have an even greater chance of being accepted because they score higher on the criterion of distinction. Are you not using your trademark five years after registration? Then you run the risk that it will be canceled due to inactivity.