KIRKPATRICK Intellectual Property (Patents, Trademarks and Designs)

Avenue Wolfers 32, 1310 La Hulpe, Belgium

Domain names

A domain name is an identification string defining a location on the Internet. The website linked to a domain name is the main gateway to a company as well as an indispensable business card. Since the introduction of a high number of new gTLDs, owners of trademarks and other IP rights are faced with new challenges with regard to protecting their rights.

If your trademark is improperly registered as a domain name by a third party, you can (under certain circumstances) request the forced transfer of the domain name to you. This procedure can be initiated before the appropriate arbitration bodies, but also before the competent courts.

 

How Can We Help ?


Protection

  • Working out together with you the most appropriate strategy and providing legal and commercial advice
  • Going through the registration process of your domain name with the authorities
  • Managing your domain name portfolio

 

Enforcement

  • Monitoring of your domain name and/or those of your competitors in order to obtain an up-to-date competitive map of your Internet environment
  • Defence of your interests in case infringement of your IP rights by a third party’s domain name
  • Defence of your interests as part of alternative dispute resolution procedures (ADR) regarding the forced transfer of domain names

 

Strategic optimisation

  • Negotiation and drafting of agreements (transfer of rights, licensing, escrow, etc.)

 


 

Our Services

Our experienced attorneys, engineers and paralegals are always aiming for excellence and are not afraid of coming up with inventive and yet efficient solutions.

Patents

A patent gives its holder the right to prevent others from using or exploiting the patented invention in the territory where the patent is valid. A patent also contributes to valorizing R&D efforts, such as by generating revenues through licensing or sales of patent rights, or by attracting investors.

Trademarks

A trademark is a sign such as a name, a logo, a combination of letters and/or numbers, a slogan, a colour or a combination of colours, a sound, the shape of a product or its packaging, or any other symbol. This sign is used to distinguish a company's products or services from those of his competitors.

Designs

A design is a protection that applies to a product's external features, i.e. its shape, lines, contours, colours, texture, material or ornamentation. A design can be three-dimensional (the shape of a car, a mobile phone, a couch, a vase) or two-dimensional (a pattern, a drawing).

Copyright

A copyright is a protection given to any original literary, scientific and artistic works, irrespective of their medium, such as books, brochures and other written works, conferences and musical compositions. Computer programs can also be copyrighted.

Supplementary Protection Certificates

A supplementary protection certificate is an intellectual property right that extends, for a period of up to five years, the patent protection duration for a human or veterinary medicinal requiring marketing authorisation.

Plant breeder's rights

A plant breeder's right (PBR) protects a new plant variety of any botanical genus or species, regardless of whether it has been obtained by controlled sexual crossing and subsequent selection or by genetic engineering.