Do you want to sell via bol.com or Amazon? Register your trademark with BOIP first!

Verkopen via Bol.comIs your personal web shop not attracting enough customers – for the moment at least? You can also offer your products via bol.com or Amazon. You do first have to apply to officially register your trademark with BOIP. Once you have done that, you can register your branded goods with web stores such as bol.com or Amazon. On this page, you can read how you go about doing that.

Entrepreneurs, it’s never been easier to register your trademark!

  • Explanatory texts and videos guide you through the module
  • Easily pick the goods and services relevant to you
  • Prefilled information to save your valuable time. 

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The 7 benefits of registering your trademark

Registering your trademark has many benefits. We have set them out for you below. 

  • You have a monopoly on your trademark. 
  • Trademark registration means that you own your trademark. 
  • You can sell your trademark or license it. 
  • You protect your brand against counterfeiting. 
  • You brand gains more credibility. 
  • Investing in your brand pays off. 
  • Registering a trademark does not cost much. 

Read more about the 7 benefits

Why offer products as branded goods on bol.com or Amazon

In order to be able to sell certain products, partner platforms require the seller to have officially registered the trademark in the Netherlands.  This is because these platforms want to ensure the reliability of those products. Offering your products as branded goods on bol.com or Amazon also has other advantages for the presentation of your products on these sales platforms. 

Read more here:

An application to register your trademark costs €244 for 10 years, for 1 class

When you register your trademark, you must specify which products or services you intend to use your trademark for. Those products and services are divided into classes.  

The number of classes determines the cost of your trademark registration. Any second class costs 27 euro, and for each extra class after that the cost is 81 euro per class.  The number of classes you ultimately choose therefore determines how much your trademark registration will cost. 

Read further about the frequently asked question: What classes must I choose for a bol.com web shop? 

Haste and speed are rarely good with trademark registration, read here why

You want to register your trademark quickly to be able to sell your branded goods on bol.com or Amazon as quickly as possible. However, you must first properly check whether your trademark already exists. Otherwise, the owner of a trademark that is very similar to yours may oppose your application. You must also verify that your application meets all the formal requirements. If another party opposes your trademark, or if we have to refuse your trademark, you will lose your application fee.

By looking into the legal requirements for trademark registration beforehand, you can prevent your application being refused. Read more about trademark refusal and acceptance

 

This is what the application process looks like

You apply for your trademark registration online. We verify that your application meets all the formal requirements, that the products and services have been clearly described and whether the products and services have been placed in the correct classes. If this is all in order, we publish the application in the BOIP Trademarks Register.

After that, the opposition period starts. This is a statutory period of two months within which other parties may file objections to your application. We also verify that your trademark is a trademark according to the statutory rules. If another party opposes your trademark, or if we have to refuse your trademark, you will lose your application fee.

If we determine that your trademark is a trademark according to the law, and there has been no opposition filed against your trademark, or opposition has been rejected, then your trademark will be registered and you become the official owner (holder) of the trademark.

You will find more about the entire application process on the page ‘Trademark: from application to registration’ 

Please note: The procedure for application and registration of a trademark takes 3 months on average, so it is good to start the process as early as possible.


Apply to register a trademark in four steps

The registration process takes 3 months. Will it speed things up if I apply for accelerated registration with BOIP?

In fact, accelerated registration does not bring any direct added value when you want to sell through bol.com. That may sound a little strange, as via an accelerated registration procedure – with an additional fee – you can obtain your registration number immediately, which you need in order to sell your branded goods on bol.com. However, your trademark does not yet have the ‘registered trademark’ status. The whole registration procedure still has to be applied to your trademark (read more here about the registration procedure). There are also a risks attached to that.

More about the risks 

During the registration procedure with BOIP, it is possible that we have to refuse your trademark application, or that someone lodges an objection (files an opposition) against to your trademark. If this is the case, you will no longer have a registered trademark and you will lose your application fee.

Take your time 

With a normal BOIP registration procedure, it takes approximately 3 months before your trademark is registered and you receive a registration number. It is advisable to wait until the end of this process, to avoid any risk, before you register your brand with bol.com.

What classes must I choose to be able to sell through the bol.com webshop?

Bol.com wants to know whether your trademark has been registered with BOIP for the correct class(es) to sell your goods. The ‘correct’ classes are the classes that apply to your product. You must choose the correct terms within those classes. We refer to this as ‘classification’.

Determine which products you are going to use your trademark for 

Classification means that you must indicate the products you intend to use your trademark for. This determines the scope of protection of your trademark. A useful tool to help you with this is TMclass. This classification assistant helps you to search for your products and find the corresponding class. On this page we give you more tips and explain how you can prepare your choice

The products selected determine the scope of protection 

Here’s an example. Let's imagine that you sell thermos flasks. Class 21 applies in this case, and within it the term ‘thermos flasks’. If you sell backpacks, you need class 18, and within it the term ‘backpacks’. As stated, the products selected determine the scope of protection of your trademark. Be careful though: you cannot widen the choice of products at a later date. You can decide to limit the scope of protection though. 

Tip:
In addition to the products chosen, it can also be wise to include the 'service' you provide in the classification (class 35). In the example of the thermos flasks, the term for class 35 would be: 'Retail and wholesale services relating to insulating flasks, the aforesaid services also via electronic channels, including the Internet.' Please note. Only (service) class 35 is not sufficient for bol.com. Bol.com requests registration for the product classes.

Use your trademark

Within 5 years of registering, you must also actually use your trademark for all the products you registered it for. If you don’t, you run the risk of losing your trademark.

Can bol.com refuse my registered trademark? How can I prevent that or what can I do about it?

It is possible that bol.com will not accept your trademark registration. We explain how that can happen below. What’s more, we can also tell you how to solve the problem: make a print-out of your trademark from the BOIP Trademarks Register and send it to bol.com. 

How we register trademarks 

Registering your trademark with BOIP means that your trademark is entered in the BOIP Trademarks Register. The Register has to be easily searchable to be able to retrieve the trademarks. It is the reason why we include in our system all the word elements that form part of a particular trademark. With a brand name (word mark), this is not likely to cause bol.com to refuse the registration. It might be the case with a logo though.

An example: Suppose you want to register a logo which includes the words ‘Baker Pete’ and its abbreviated form – ‘BP’. The word elements in the logo then are: ‘Baker Pete BP’. We enter these words in our system, as the word elements of this logo, and the logo is thus ‘named’ as such in the BOIP Trademarks Register.  

The ‘name’ of the logo gives a false impression 

It is possible that bol.com will not accept the trademark registration. This is because bol.com finds that the ‘name’ we have given to the logo gives the impression that the trademark registration is for a different trademark than the one you have submitted. That name is not really relevant for bol.com though, because the legal protection for the trademark applies to the whole of the logo, not just to the word elements that form part of it.

How to solve the problem of a refusal by bol.com 

You can solve this problem by making a digital print-out of your trademark from the BOIP Trademarks Register and sending that to bol.com. This print-out shows, namely, only the official details relating to the trademark, not the name we give it. 

How to make a print-out from the Register 

  1. Search for your trademark in the BOIP Trademarks Register.  
  2. On your trademark page, click on ‘print’ at the top on the right.  
  3. Save your print-out as a pdf and send it via e-mail to bol.com.
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About BOIP

BOIP is the abbreviation for Benelux Office for Intellectual Property.

BOIP logoWhat is intellectual property?

Intellectual Property (IP) is an umbrella term for rights to ideas and creative concepts that have been expressed in tangible form, such as designs, inventions, music, brands, software, games, texts and photos.

What does BOIP do?

BOIP is the official is the official  body for trademarks and designs registration in the Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg). We ensure that alle entrepreneurs can protect their intellectual property in a non-complex manner.

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