Intellectual Property
Intellectual property, often referred to as IP, is a number of distinct types of legal monopolies over creations of the mind. Under IP laws, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets. Common types of intellectual property include:
- Copyright laws protecting creative works, such as books, movies, music, paintings, photographs, and software, and give the copyright holder exclusive right to control reproduction or adaptation of such works for a certain period of time.
- Industrial properties are typically created and used for industrial or commercial purposes
- A patent may be granted for a new, useful, and non-obvious invention and gives the patent holder a right to prevent others from practicing the invention without a license from the inventor for a certain period of time.
- A trademark is a distinctive sign which is used to prevent confusion among products in the marketplace.
- An industrial design right protects the form of appearance, style or design of an industrial object from infringement.
- A trade secret is an item of non-public information concerning the commercial practices or proprietary knowledge of a business. Public disclosure of trade secrets may sometimes be illegal.
Intellectual Property is increasingly important in today’s business practice. The Netherlands Antilles and Aruba have up-to-date intellectual property legislation and are signatories to various international conventions relating to the protection of intellectual property. VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne is a strategic partner and advisor in the management of intellectual property.
We have the expertise on both the national and international level and are a member of international organizations such as the International Trademark Association (INTA) and the Asociación Interamericana de la Propiedad Industrial (ASIPI).
Our specialists provide a broad range of services that vary from advice on transferring certain intellectual property rights and the establishment of security thereon, to the drafting of franchise and license agreements and litigating in extensive infringement cases. We also provide registration and maintenance services for trademarks (including international registrations) and patents.
- A local retail company on the restructuring of its trademark portfolio
- Adidas in a major counterfeit dispute in Curacao
- Advising on structuring worldwide IP-portfolios
- Glaxxo Smith Kline, G-Star, Nutricia and Philip Morris, amongst others, in infringement cases
- K-Swiss in trademark infringement proceedings in Curacao
- K-Swiss, Nike, Nutricia and many others in counterfeit injunction proceedings
- Publisher of road maps in copyrights-infringement proceedings
- Seizure of a large number of image carriers in Curacao and Aruba
- Several clients on raids against counterfeit all over the Dutch Caribbean
