KIRKPATRICK Intellectual Property (Patents, Trademarks and Designs)

Avenue Wolfers 32, 1310 La Hulpe, Belgium

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).

Obtaining a design requires filing for a registration in the territory where protection is sought, and is highly recommended. You will then be able to prohibit third parties from producing or using your design or one similar to your registered design.

To obtain protection, a design should be new and have an individual character.

 

How Can We Help ?


Protection

  • Advice on the registrability of your design
  • Advice on the availability of your design
  • Preparation of a filing strategy that takes your specific needs into account
  • Prosecution of your design’s registration with the authorities
  • Representing you before BOIP, INPI, EUIPO and WIPO
  • Prosecution of your design’s registration in foreign jurisdictions through our network of selected associates
  • Management and optimization of your design portfolio
  • Handling of your design’s renewal and administrative aspects during its effective life

 

Enforcement

  • Defence of your interests in case of refusals and cancellations resulting from actions of third parties or the authorities.
  • Defence of your interests in case of infringement of your design
  • Assistance with customs and border protection

 

Strategic optimisation

  • Negotiation and drafting of agreements (licensing, distribution, coexistence, etc.)
  • Performance of administrative and strategic portfolio audits
  • Assessment of the monetary value of your design portfolio

 


 

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.

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.

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. Since the introduction of a high number of new gTLDs, owners of trademarks and other IP rights are faced with new challenges.

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.