patents, trademarks and designs
Knowledge and ideas can be protected in various ways.
- Patents can be sought to cover technical inventions and new and improved (uses of) products, but also for new and improved production processes.
- Trademarks can be registered to protect the designations of products and services (brand names, logos, emblems etc.).
- Design protection can be obtained for products with a novel appearance, their own characteristic design.
The patent attorney advises on the effective protection of knowledge, products and ideas. He/she acts on behalf of his/her client and takes care of the procedures for the acquisition and maintenance of protection at the Netherlands Patent Office (Octrooicentrum Nederland - OCNL) , at the European Patent Office, at the Benelux Trademark and Design Office and at the European Union Trademarks and Designs Registration Office (OHIM). He/she also arranges effective protection for countries outside Europe in collaboration with fellow patent attorneys in other countries.
In practice the patent attorney first examines whether protection of an idea is sensible and feasible. He/she also advises on the appropriate form of protection and he/she will check - together with the client - in what countries protection is needed.
Patent attorneys can also investigate the validity of competitors' patent applications and trademark and design registrations and provide considered advice on these. Clients therefore find out what knowledge and ideas their competitors are protecting. They can thus ensure that they do not unintentionally infringe the existing rights of others.
All cases involve legal protection. In practice this means that the protection often only applies when an official procedure has been successfully completed. One important requirement is thereby that the procedure for acquiring the protection - at least for patents and designs - must be initiated before the idea or the invention is made public.
It is the patent attorney who can thereby provide the best advice. He/she prepares the procedure down to the smallest detail and guides it professionally.
The value of a patent is proven every day. One of innumerable examples: a Dutch company develops a way of decontaminating polluted soil more cheaply and more effectively. A highly successful process which not only appeals greatly to the market but also attracts the attention of the competition. Luckily the company was smart enough to protect its interests carefully. A patent attorney submitted a patent application in good time on behalf of the company. The company now has a means of effectively preventing the competition from using the successful process for an extended period (up to 20 years). The company can even gain additional income by granting licences to other companies.
Exclusive rights also show their economic value when choosing the name or a visual identifier for a product or a service. When a start-up company entered the market with a new service, they publicised it by sending out smart, expensive brochures. The recipients were contacted as planned, but the campaign was nonetheless a fiasco.
The right to the trademark for the name which the company had given to the service package was found to be owned by a rival. The new company therefore had to choose a new name and all the expensive marketing material had to go in the bin. A patent attorney could have checked beforehand whether the name existed already and was protected. The company could have saved itself a lot of expense and effort by seeking timely advice.
Design protection can be sought for products with a novel appearance. A stylishly designed chair from a garden furniture manufacturer was very popular with consumers. It was therefore not long before it was copied. Competitors launched almost identical garden furniture. Because they did not need to spend any money on development work, they could offer the copied chair at a substantially lower price. Only because the garden furniture manufacturer had arranged design protection through a patent attorney could it act effectively against the copying. Its competitors had to recall their garden chairs from the shops. They were also ordered to pay substantial damages.
