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Catering and trademark registration: name and logo protect separately

For a catering business too, the rule applies: the name of a restaurant, café, food truck or hotel chain is only protected once it is registered as a trademark, not simply by using it on the storefront or menu. If someone comes up with a name and does business with it but makes no formal registration, there is a risk that someone else will register that same name or a confusingly similar one — and then ask the first user to stop using it. For catering entrepreneurs who expand, franchise or open a second location, that is a real risk, because a successful name is more likely to be copied.

Trademark registration happens via the BOIP for the Benelux or via the EUIPO for the entire European Union, depending on where the business is active or wants to grow. The application requires a choice from the classes of the Nice Classification: catering generally falls under the classes covering the provision of food and drink and, where applicable, temporary accommodation in hotels or B&Bs. Which classes are precisely suitable depends on what the business actually offers — a sandwich shop needs a different set of classes than a hotel with a restaurant. A trademark also protects only what has been registered: name, logo, or both, in the chosen classes.

What this is based on: BOIP, EUIPO and the Nice Classification

This explanation follows from the working methods of the official trademark registers: the BOIP register for Benelux marks, the EUIPO for EU marks, and the Nice Classification of the WIPO which determines in which classes a trademark is applied for. For the precise class allocation of a catering business, the Nice Classification itself is the source; it specifies per class which goods and services fall under it.