Product design

Product design

Protecting designs enables designers and companies to maintain the exclusivity of their designs and products in order to gain and maintain market share. Brinkhof’s lawyers and design attorneys are experienced specialists when it comes to protecting designs. Brinkhof has a leading position in this field and is always involved in the most prominent cases. All of Brinkhof’s clients therefore benefit from that knowledge and experience.

Protecting product design

The design of a product can be protected in many different ways. The rules on this are extensive and complex, as a result of which litigants are frequently left without proper protection due to the many options available. Brinkhof’s lawyers and design attorneys are well placed to help protect the design of products in an efficient way and to enforce that protection, not only in the Netherlands, but throughout Europe.

Various ways of obtaining protection

The conventional form of protection for product designs involves design rights. The benefit of design rights is that they allow the design to be registered, which acts as a defence against third parties seeking to produce something similar. Another major advantage of design rights is that protection can be obtained throughout the EU by registering the design only once. In addition to design right, copyright also provides a good degree of protection, and is also becoming increasingly important as a result of various developments. Whereas originally, copyright was mainly a national method of protection applicable to the Netherlands, it  is nowadays increasingly being extended across Europe as well. Copyright does not need to be registered, despite the fact that nowadays, it is also applicable throughout Europe. In addition to these two forms of protection, even more forms of protection are available, which effectively demonstrates that the protection of designs is an area in which clients need specialist support. Brinkhof offers that support like no other firm.

Experienced specialists for the registration, protection and/or enforcement of your product design

Brinkhof’s lawyers and design attorneys are highly experienced in all aspects of product design and design protection. Brinkhof assists clients at all stages of protection, from the registration of designs and ensuring prompt and effective enforcement against imitation, to proceedings on questions of principle before the European Court of Justice.