Trade Mark Opposition Proceedings In The Benelux – New Guidelines

A trade mark is not registered lightly. To be eligible for registration, a trade mark must not only have distinctive character, it must also not conflict with an earlier trade mark. In order to provide trade mark owners with a means of defense against later filed identical or similar trade marks, the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property ("BOIP") introduced opposition proceedings in 2004. Simultaneously with the introduction of these proceedings, the BOIP published its Guidelines for Opposition Proceedings ("Guidelines"). Recently, the BOIP has updated its Guidelines. The most prominent changes will be discussed below.

Background

As mentioned, the first version of the Guidelines was produced shortly after introduction of the opposition proceedings themselves in 2004. At the time, BOIP only had limited experience with the new proceedings, and there were all kinds of transition provisions in place that impacted on the proceedings. Under these