Markenizer acquired by NLO Shieldmark

NLO Shieldmark acquired Markenizer’s entire trademark portfolio in February 2019. Markenizer, which was founded by Marieke Westgeest, has developed into a well-known player in the trademark landscape over the past two decades, both inside and outside the Netherlands. Apart from the recent physical relocation to NLO Shieldmark’s office in The Hague, the acquisition will come with hardly any changes for clients and business associates for the time being. Markenizer paralegal Maureen Cambeis will continue to provide support to Marlous Stal-Hilders and Bart ten Doeschate in all their projects.

Brexit for trademark holders

Developments involving Brexit seem to take unexpected turns all the time. At present, the exit deadline is still scheduled for 31 October 2019 and the question is whether or not a deal will be struck before then. The NLO Shieldmark experts keep a close eye on the situation for trademark holders, telling them what to expect in the different scenarios and how to prepare for the consequences. For more information, please visit www.nlo.eu/brexit.

Neymar foils trademark hijacker

Brazilian football superstar Neymar has scored an important legal victory in the EU General Court over a Portuguese national who’d registered the name NEYMAR as a European trademark. ‘Everything starts with an idea’. This short film shows how innovations have impact on our daily life and how NLO and NLO Shieldmark fortify those innovations.

Trademark hijackers

Celebrities regularly come up against these trademark hijackers, who try to benefit financially by hitching a ride on their famous name. In this case, a Portuguese entrepreneur had registered the name NEYMAR as an EU trademark in 2012. Neymar filed an opposition to it in 2016.

Piggyback

After years of legal wrangling, the General Court of the European Union has now concluded that the trademark was registered in bad faith, since at the time it was applied for – 2012 – Neymar was already a world-famous footballer. By registering NEYMAR as a trademark, the applicant was clearly trying to piggyback on Neymar’s celebrity status. The fact that the footballer wasn't a player in Europe until 2013, when he joined FC Barcelona, was irrelevant, the Court said. Another indicator of bad faith was that the same individual had applied to register the name of another well-known footballer, Spanish goalie Iker Casillas, on the same day. The Court therefore concluded that the applicant clearly had a knowledge of football.

In the Benelux too

The ruling was an important victory for Neymar, who’s fighting a similar case in the Benelux. NLO Shieldmark, which conducted an opposition on his behalf, has already managed to get a trademark application for NEYMAR, for sports gear, overturned.