LUXEMBOURG Law and Practice Contributed by: Emmanuèle de Dampierre and Florentine Frias, Elvinger Hoss Prussen
1. Trade Mark and Copyright Law 1.1 Governing Law In Luxembourg, two systems apply for trade marks: • the EU trade marks system governed by Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 on the European Union trade mark; and • the Benelux trade mark system governed by the Benelux Convention on Intellectual Prop - erty (Trademarks and Designs) of 25 February 2005 (“Benelux Convention”), which estab - lishes a regional trade mark for Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. There is no Luxembourg trade mark. Only registered trade marks are recognised in Luxembourg, except for trade marks that are well known within the meaning of Article 6bis of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Indus - trial Property (“Paris Convention”) – namely non- registered trade marks that are renowned in the Benelux territory (“well-known trade marks”). Authors’ rights are governed in Luxembourg by the amended Law of 18 April 2001 on authors’ rights, related rights and databases (the “Authors’ Rights Law”). The law of 22 May 2009 transposed Directive 2004/48/EC on the enforcement of intellectual property rights into Luxembourg law, and concerns both trade marks and authors’ rights (among other intel - lectual property rights). The law of 25 April 2018 transposed Directive 2014/26/EU on collective management of copyright and related rights and multi-territorial licensing of rights in musical works for online use in the internal market into Luxembourg law.
1.2 Conventions and Treaties/Rights of Foreign IP Holders Luxembourg is a member of several conventions and treaties, including: • the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works; • the WIPO Copyright Treaty; • the Benelux Convention; • the Paris Convention; • the Trademark Law Treaty; • the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trade - marks; • the Madrid Agreement Concerning the Inter - national Registration of Marks; • the Nice Agreement Concerning the Interna - tional Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (“Nice Classification”); and • the Vienna Agreement Establishing an Inter - national Classification of the Figurative Ele - ments of Marks. Luxembourg is also a member of the World Trade Organization and has therefore been a party to the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights since 1995. As a matter of principle, all foreign authors enjoy the rights guaranteed by the Authors’ Rights Law in Luxembourg (in accordance with the funda - mental principle of national treatment enshrined in the Berne Convention). There are some spe - cific provisions regarding the protection period and the artist’s resale rights. Only Benelux, EU or international trade marks designating Ben - elux are protected in Luxembourg. However, under certain conditions, owners of foreign trade marks may benefit in the Benelux from a right of priority (ie, the possibility to rely on an earlier date of filing in a country when applying for a
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