NETHERLANDS Law and Practice Contributed by: Radboud Ribbert and Wouter van Wengen, Greenberg Traurig, LLP
5.8 Measures to Address Fraud The BOIP and EUIPO consider the filing of a trade mark application in bad faith (eg, fraud - ulently to thwart a competitor) as an absolute ground for invalidation. As a result, it is part of the initial assessment by the examiners of the respective offices. The investigation into a pos - sible bad faith application will not formally sus - pend the application, but it is likely to prolong the application process. However, if the trade mark application makes it to registration, the cancel - lation must be requested by a third party (ie, not the office itself). If the applicant is found to have filed a trade mark application in bad faith, this will lead to the rejection of the application or the invalidation of the registration. 6. Assignments and Licensing 6.1 Assignment Requirements and Restrictions Both trade marks and copyrights can be fully or partially assigned. The procedures for assign - ment of a trade mark are different from a copy - right, since copyrights are non-registerable intel - lectual property rights in the Netherlands. For trade marks, the assignment requires a writ - ten agreement. This written agreement must stipulate the assigned rights and indicate the trade mark(s) this pertains to. The assignment agreement must be filed with the respective trade mark office in order to have a third-party effect; ie, if the assignment agreement is not filed, the assignment applies only between the parties to the assignment agreement and cannot be invoked against third parties. The respective trade mark office will examine the assignment agreement, and, if approved, record this assign - ment in the publicly available register.
For copyrights, the assignment agreement alone is sufficient, also for third-party effect. Since copyrights are non-registerable rights, it is par - ticularly important to be as precise as possible about the subject matter assigned. If this cannot be determined with sufficient precision, then the assignment will not be valid. Both trade mark and copyrights are transmis - sible upon death. 6.2 Licensing Requirements or Restrictions The procedures of licensing trade marks or cop - yrights are virtually the same as for assigning the rights thereto, as described in 6.1 Assignment Requirements and Restrictions . There are vari - ous possible licenses that can be granted. Par - ties are free to decide on this; eg, it is possible to enter into an exclusive licence, non-exclusive licence, sole licence, perpetual licence, or time- restricted licence. Licences can include archival rights as well. 6.3 Registration or Recording of an Assignment or Licence The assignments and licences must be recorded with the respective trade mark office. If this is not carried out, the assignment or grant of licence does not have third-party effect, as explained in 6.1 Assignment Requirements and Restric- tions . If there is a gap in time between the assignment or licence taking place and its recor - dation, this will not thwart the recordation, but the date of recordation will apply for purposes of third-party effect.
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