Register a trade mark for a brewery

Why a brewery, like any other mark, needs registration

A brewery that invents a name or logo and applies it to labels, glasses or signage does not thereby acquire a right. Without registration, another party can record that same name at the BOIP or the EUIPO, and that party can subsequently ask the brewery to cease use. This risk applies equally to a small craft brewery as to a large brand: the company name, the name of a specific beer, and the logo can each be protected separately, and registration alone confers an enforceable right.

A brewery often involves more than the beer product alone. In addition to the beverage itself, many breweries also sell merchandise, rent out a tasting room or bar counter, or operate a webshop and a hospitality venue under the same name. For complete protection, it is important that the application covers the correct goods and services, not only "beer" — this is determined through the class selection in the Nice Classification, which designates a different class for each activity. A registration that covers only the beverage does not automatically protect the name for the café or webshop beneath it.

Where class selection and the registers determine this

Which classes are relevant for a brewery follows from the WIPO Nice Classification, the system used by both the BOIP and the EUIPO to categorise goods and services. Whether a chosen name has already been recorded by another can be verified in the public registers of the BOIP (for the Benelux) and the EUIPO (for the entire EU) — a check that provides an indication of existing registrations, but no guarantee that an application will pass examination without objection.