An intellectual property nowadays can be worth a lot. Sometimes it even is the most valuable asset of a company. Intellectual property includes logos, slogans, written documents and/or artistic work. How do you protect these assets? To protect your intellectual property there are several options. The most important options are the Copyright and Trademark.
Trademark
As mentioned above, your brand name, logo, slogans etc. can be worth a lot of money. They are worth being trademarked. When the Trademark is registered and it is used by another company, you can take legal steps against this third party for improper use.
When the Trademark is registered by a company, this company has the exclusive rights to use it. In most countries this protection lasts for 10 years. The Trademark protection can be renewed for 10 years each time. There are 3 ways to register your Trade Mark:
With only Dutch coverage.
With coverage in the Benelux.
With coverage in the EU.
Other questions that are relevant are:
Do you want a name (word) and/or logo(figurative) or combination of both (figurative mark containing word elements)?
What goods or services are you going to produce/market under this name/logo?
Most of our customers choose the trade mark registration with global coverage, since they are global entrepreneurs.
We can register a trademark for you. The registration takes approximately 3 to 4 months for a registration that covers the whole EU. A worldwide registration may take longer and is more costly. Get in touch.
A Trademark can be sold. Meaning that the Trademark can be used by another company. Selling a trademark requires a Trademark licensing agreement. These kind of agreements can be complex. We can help you draw up these agreements.
Copyright
A copyright protects original work including literature, music, and other intellectual work. Other than with a Trademark, a copyright does not have to be registered. The intellectual work is copyrighted automatically when it is created. You can make other people aware of your copyright by adding “all rights reserved“ or © to the work you created. This may help prevent other people using or abusing your work. To be communicated, the work has to be published somewhere so that third parties can find it.
Registration is only necessary when a company wants to sue a third party over the use of the copyrighted material by a third party. The registration of the copyright is instant. We can help you with this registration.
The protection of a copyright lasts a lot longer than a Trademark. In EU-countries, copyright protects intellectual property up to 70 years after the death of the owner. Outside of the EU, in countries taking part in the Berne convention a copyright protects the intellectual property until 50 years after the death of the owner.
The difference
Trademarks and copyright both provide protection on the use of intellectual property. The difference is that they protect different types of intellectual property. Trademarks protects items helping to define a company brand, for example: logos, brand names, slogans etc.
Copyright on the other hand, protects literary and artistic work, for example: books, videos etc.
We can help you with all issues regarding intellectual property, such as the registration of your trademark and copyright. Get in touch
How We Work
In order to register your Trademark or claim Copyright we will need to know more details about what you want to protect and where you want to cover it.
We will start by doing an intake with you to determine whether you need Trademark, copyright or both and to determine where you should claim it geographically.
The procedure
Step 1 - We need you to provide us the detailed information of the trademark, the picture, the categories of service or goods you want to register for; and invoice details;
Step 2 - After your payment, we will make the application at OHIM;
Step 3 - 3 months later we will provide you the search reports to see if your trademark conflicts with any existing trademark;
Step 4 - If there are no conflicts, we will publicize your application for 3 months;
Step 5 - If there is no valid rejection heard within the 3 months, your trademark will be registered.
The whole procedure usually takes 7 - 8 months, but it depends on the complexity of your application.
Notes:
One thing you need to pay special attention to is that, if your EU trademark application is found to conflict with the existing trademark in any single EU country, the EU trademark application will be rejected as a whole.
If the search results show conflicts with existing trademarks in any EU country (Step 3), or if a valid rejection is heard within the three-month notice period (Step 4), your application will be rejected. However, after rejection for EU trademark, you can still apply for trademark registration in each individual European country. You can also apply for the Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) trademark directly.
In order to register Copyright
Following steps are taken care to proceed with protection of your ‘copy’ objects:
DOCUMENTS REQUIRED (FOR ANY TYPE OF OBJECTS)
Author:
• Passport copy of the Author
• Name spelling in English and in Arabic
• ID copy of the Author (If UAE Resident)
• Citizenship
• Contact email
• Postal address
• Contact phone number
Right holder (if person):
• Passport copy of the Author
• Name spelling in English and in Arabic
• ID copy of the Author (If UAE Resident)
• Citizenship
• Contact email
• Postal address
• Contact phone number
Right holder (if company)
• Company name spelling in English and in Arabic
• Trade license or any incorporated documents
DOCUMENTS FOR OBJECTS:
FOR THE COMPOSITE WORK REGISTRATION:
- Logo source file (pdf., jpg.,)
- Application form
- Brand Name
FOR THE WEBSITE DESIGN REGISTRATION:
- Design samples of main interfaces
- Application form
FOR THE WEBSITE SOURCE CODE REGISTRATION:
- Source code listing (first 20 pages)
- Summary for the functionality
- Application form
FOR THE WEBSITE CONTENT REGISTRATION:
- List of initial content of the website
- Application form
Step 2: Scope of works for protection
No Description
Collecting the documents about authors and right holders
Collecting the documents regarding the project and prepare the description of
the project
Patent Search for uniqueness of IP-object
An examination and justification of the uniqueness of the development
Preparation of expert conclusion for registration work of science
Creating and signing application for registration of the work in International
Online Copyright Office INTEROCO
Apply for registration of the work in International Online Copyright Office INTEROCO
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