Trademark clearance searches

Because it covers three countries, the Benelux Trademarks Register is one of the bigger registers within the European Union. It always makes sense to find out whether your proposed mark is available in order to avoid any problems later on.

Our trademark availability searches also include an opinion about the inherent registrability of the proposed mark in Benelux. Prior to 1996 it was fairly easy to register a trademark in Benelux since there was no examination on absolute grounds (descriptiveness of your trademark) or an opposition procedure. 

Nowadays the examiners of the Benelux IP Office (BOIP) are one of the strictest within the European Union as far as the examination of the possible descriptive or laudatory meaning of a word mark is concerned.