Yes, you must actually use your trade mark after registration. Both the BOIP and the EUIPO allow a period of five years from registration within which you must have begun genuine use of the trade mark for the goods and services for which you sought protection. If you do not, a third party can initiate proceedings to have the registration cancelled in whole or in part due to non-use.
This mistake is often made because the application itself already demands so much attention: choosing the right classes, waiting for the conflict scan, surviving publication and the opposition period. Once the trade mark is registered, many entrepreneurs feel the work is done. That is precisely the moment when genuine use must begin, and when the risk arises that people forget that a trade mark loses its value over time without use.
What counts as genuine use
The trade mark regulation and the Benelux Treaty refer to genuine use: use that is visible to the public, corresponds to the goods or services for which the trade mark is registered, and is intended to establish or maintain a market. Internal use, a single proof copy, or a trade mark that exists only in draft form, typically do not count. Nor does use of a substantially different variant of the trade mark automatically count as use of the registered trade mark itself.
Whether something counts as genuine use in a particular case is ultimately for the supervisory authority or the court to decide. If you are uncertain about your own situation, that is a question for a trade mark attorney, not something you can rely on an indication from the internet.
Why this goes wrong so often
Three situations occur most frequently in practice. The first is registration for plans that never materialise: a name for a product line that is ultimately never launched, while the trade mark remains registered in that class. The second is rebranding: a new logo or name appears, and the old trade mark falls into disuse without anyone considering that the old registration becomes vulnerable. The third is an overly broad class list: the trade mark is used, but not for all the goods and services for which it is registered, so part of the protection is effectively suspended.
If you think carefully at the application stage about which classes really fit your business, you can prevent some of this risk from the outset. how to have the classes for your situation carefully determined provides a good starting point for this.
What happens if things go wrong
A third party who wishes to use or register your trade mark can ask the BOIP, the EUIPO or the court for a cancellation if they believe you have not used the trade mark or have not used it sufficiently. You must then demonstrate yourself that there has been genuine use, and that evidence must be concrete: invoices, packaging, advertisements, website screenshots with dates, photographs of products in stores. Those who do not have that evidence ready are in a weak position, even if use has in fact taken place.
The consequence of a successful cancellation is that protection for the goods or services in question is lost, sometimes for the entire trade mark. This also removes the basis on which you could stop others. marcai.eu does not conduct these types of proceedings itself; they are handled by a trade mark attorney, just like oppositions or refusals.
How to prevent this
From the moment of registration, build a file with evidence of use, and maintain it systematically instead of searching for it only when needed. Use the mark as registered, and do not deviate from it unnecessarily sharply during a redesign. At each renewal, critically examine whether the class list still matches what you actually do, and consider whether an overly broad list creates risks that are disproportionate to the benefit.
Renewal itself is a separate point of attention: a forgotten renewal costs the mark just as much as non-use. What a registration and the associated monitoring cost you can see clearly on the page with fees for registration and monitoring. If you are unsure whether your current use and classes still match, that is one of the questions that come back in the overview of frequently asked questions about trademark protection.
Do you first want to know whether your trademark or logo can actually be registered freely, before you worry about use after registration? Then do the free quick scan and see in a few questions where you stand now, or continue reading in the marcai.eu knowledge base.