Patent, trademark or design?
How do you protect your invention? How do you protect the new name that you have devised for your product? Or the book that you have published about your new invention? Dutch law offers you various options to achieve this.
Legislation provides legal protection for inventions and innovations. Thanks to intellectual property, you can actually turn your new, inventive product or idea into your own property. Intellectual property is the right to be the only party that may reap the benefits of an intellectual accomplishment. No other parties shall be permitted to simply adopt an idea or a design, but others may glean inspiration from the published information available to the public about existing, protected products when developing a new product of their own. Symbols are often used to indicate the type of protection.
| Right | Protection | |
|---|---|---|
| Copyright |
For works of literature, art and science |
|
| Industrial Property Rights | Patent law | For new products or processes |
| Trademark law | For word trademarks and pictorial trademarks | |
| Designs and models law | For the exterior of an implement | |
| Plant breeders’ right | For crops | |
| Topographies of semiconductor products | For 'chips' |
