Trademark and design registrations require maintenance. It is important that we always have your latest contact details. It can also be important that you timely extend the storage period of an i-DEPOT.
What do you want to maintain?
Unlike trademarks, registered designs do not have to be used in order to be maintained. Of course, the design registration must be renewed on time.
Modifications
It is important to ensure that your details in the Designs Register are correct and up-to-date. If any changes are made, you can ask BOIP to modify the registration details.
- You can submit a change of name and/or address via My BOIP.
- You can submit a designation or change of authorised representative via My BOIP.
What cannot be modified?
- The design itself can never be modified;
- Modifications can only be made to design registrations, not to applications.
Renewal
A design registration is valid for five years from the filing date and can be renewed for five-year periods, up to a maximum of 25 years in total. This is determined by law. We will send a reminder message. To this end, it is important that your contact details are up to date, in particular your postal and e-mail address. Failure to receive a message from us for any reason does not render BOIP in any way liable. Timely renewal of your registration is your own responsibility. For this reason, be sure to inform us of any changes in your postal or e-mail address in good time.
There is a charge for design registration renewal. View the Fees
How do I renew?
It falls to you to renew your design registration on time. Six months before the expiry date, we will send a reminder to the address stated in the Designs Register, or to the correspondence address known to us. With this in mind, please notify us of any change of address in a timely fashion. No rights can be derived from a failure to receive this letter for any reason. Timely renewal of your registration is your responsibility alone.
Renewal after the expiry date is subject to a surcharge.
Renew design registration directly
Addressing design infringement
What can I do if my design is infringed?
There are two possible scenarios:
- You have spotted registration of a conflicting (possibly infringing) design in the Benelux Designs Register;
- You have discovered a conflicting design on the internet or elsewhere and it does not appear in the Designs Register.
In either case, you can initiate court proceedings based on your design registration. If the court finds that the design is infringing, it may place an injunction on use of the infringing design. In addition to petitioning for an injunction, you may apply inter alia for damages and the surrender of profits (in the case of deliberate infringement) and claim ownership of the infringing goods.
Under the first scenario above, should a dispute arise over who is entitled to the design rights, the actual designer can lay claim to the application within five years of the registration being published (action for vindication). The actual designer can also claim that the application and the design rights are invalid on the same basis (revocation). There is no time bar to him invoking this right. Any action for vindication or revocation must be initiated before the courts. Any action for vindication must be recorded in the BOIP Designs Register, merely to note that a claim has been filed before the courts.