Protect your logo and name: Legal advice

Questioner

Dear, As an association, we have our own logo as usual. This logo is not registered with the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP). However, as an association we have an agreement with a company that may exclusively sell products with our logo and name. This is also a source of income for us as an association. Our statutes do not mention anything about external and commercial use by companies. Can I prohibit entrepreneurs from selling products with our logo and name? If so, what can we fall back on? Awaiting your response I remain,

Lawyer

Yes. The Copyright Act 1912 and the Trade Name Act and in general, the unlawful act, if a direct or confusing (associative) infringement takes place on your logo.

Lawyer

The logo and the name that the association uses do not have to be registered as a visual/word mark to prevent the use of this logo and the name by unauthorized persons. If the association has designed the logo itself, it has the copyright on the logo and others are not authorized to use the logo for any purpose whatsoever without its permission. A name can be considered a trade name if it participates in economic transactions under that name. I gather from your explanation that this is the case. According to article 5 of the Trade Name Act, it is prohibited to use a trade name that resembles the trade name of another person if this leads to confusion among the public. There must then be a situation in which the other person also uses the name as the name for the company. In the present case, it only concerns the sale of products with the name, so that the trade name law probably does not apply. Finally, the use by others of the logo, whether or not in combination with the name, is unlawful, because this infringes the rights of the association and in particular its right to determine who may use the logo and the name. You must now summon the other parties to cease and desist from using the logo and the name. I am a lawyer and, among other things, specialized in intellectual property law. If desired, I am happy to assist you in this matter by drawing up such a summons. If you have any questions or require legal assistance in response to the above, please feel free to contact me without obligation and free of charge to discuss what I can do for you and what the costs are.