Trademarks, trade names and your domain name

Module 2: Choosing a good name · Reading time: 9 minutes

This lesson explains how things work as of 10 November 2026. It is not legal advice. If you are dealing with a conflict over a name or trademark, ask a lawyer or trademark attorney.

Learning objective: After this lesson you can check whether a name clashes with someone else's trademark or trade name before you register it, and you know how to better protect your own name.

Key concepts: trademark law, trademark register, BOIP, EUIPO, TMview, DPMA, trade name, KVK Commercial Register (Handelsregister), Naamchecker, reputation, bad faith, dispute resolution policy

Available is not the same as allowed

If a domain name is available, you can register it. That does not mean you are allowed to use it. With an ordinary registration, the registry generally does not check whether the name resembles someone else's trademark or trade name. That is up to you.

The reverse is also true: registering a domain name does not in itself give you any trademark rights or other rights to the name. All you have is the right to use that one registration (lesson 1.1). Someone else may hold the same name as a trademark or trade name, and then your position is weaker than you think.

Three kinds of rights to a name

Three things come into play around a business name, and they are often confused.

What	How you get it	What it gives you
Domain name	Registering it through a registrar	The right to use that one name for as long as the registration runs
Trade name	The name under which you actually run your business; you record it when you register in the commercial register (in the Netherlands, the KVK Handelsregister)	Protection if you actually use the name, and only in the region where you are known
Trademark	Registering it in a trademark register, such as with BOIP for the Benelux	An exclusive right for the goods and services you register it for, in the territory of the register

A Benelux trademark is valid for ten years and can then be renewed. Note the words "goods and services": a trademark protects your name for certain kinds of products. A trademark for bread and pastries is something different from the same word as a trademark for software.

The trade name is trickier than many business owners think. In the Netherlands, registering with the KVK alone is not enough: you are only protected once you actually use the name, and then only in the region where you are known. So a baker in Utrecht and a baker in Groningen can both use the same trade name side by side. But which of them gets the .nl name is simply a matter of who registers it first.

How to check a name

Before you register a name, go through these registers:

KVK Naamchecker, in Dutch (https://www.kvk.nl/starten/naamchecker/tool/): searches the Dutch Commercial Register and Benelux trademarks at the same time.
BOIP, in Dutch (https://www.boip.int/nl/merkenregister): the register of Benelux trademarks, with its own name checker.
TMview from the EUIPO (https://www.tmdn.org/tmview/): trademarks in the EU and many other countries in a single search. Useful if you also sell across the border.
DPMAregister (https://register.dpma.de/): German trademarks, if you are targeting the German market.

Don't search only for the exact name. Also search for names that look similar: with a different spelling, in the plural, or with a word before or after it. For trademarks, check which goods and services they are registered for. A match in a completely different sector is less of a problem than an almost identical name used by a competitor.

Then also do a plain search engine search. A business that has used the name for years but never registered it as a trademark may still have rights through its trade name.

Order: domain name first, then the rest

The KVK advises registering your domain name before you register in the Commercial Register. Once you are registered, your name is public, and someone else can snap it up more easily. A sensible order for a new name is therefore: check the registers, register the domain name, register with the KVK (or the commercial register in your country), and if the name matters to you, register it as a trademark.

What happens if there is a clash

If your domain name clashes with someone else's trademark or trade name, that party can try to take the name from you. They can do this through the courts and, for many extensions, through a faster dispute resolution policy.

For .com and other gTLDs, this is the UDRP. Among other things, the complainant must show that your name is identical or confusingly similar to their trademark, that you have no rights or legitimate interests in it, and that you registered and are using the name in bad faith. For .nl, SIDN has its own Dispute Resolution Regulations (Geschillenregeling), administered by WIPO. There, bad faith in the registration or in the use is already enough. If the complainant wins, the name is transferred to them (under the UDRP it can also be cancelled). The UDRP does not award damages. Lesson 7.2 goes into these procedures in more detail.

Bad faith means, for example: registering a name to sell it to the trademark owner, to obstruct a competitor, or to ride on someone else's reputation. Take extra care with names that resemble a well-known trademark: the suspicion of free-riding is never far away there.

The consequences can be painful. You lose not only the name, but also your website address, your email addresses and everything you have built on that name.

Protecting your own name

It works the other way round too. If your business name is important, a trademark registration gives you much firmer ground than a domain name or trade name alone. With a trademark, you can more easily take action against someone who registers a similar domain name. Combine that with the right extensions (lesson 2.2) and a few typo variants (lesson 7.2).

Summary

An available domain name is not automatically a name you may use; the registry generally does not check for trademarks.
A domain name gives you no trademark rights. A trade name only protects you in the region where you are known; a trademark gives an exclusive right for certain goods and services.
Check a name in the KVK Naamchecker, BOIP, TMview and, if needed, the DPMAregister, and also search for similar names.
Register the domain name before your KVK registration; register an important name as a trademark.
In a clash involving bad faith, a dispute resolution policy can award the name to the other party.

Quiz

Exercise

Exercise D2.3: Trademark and trade name check. Take a name you are considering, or the name of your own business. Go through the registers from this lesson and write down what you find.

Tick off when you have done this:

I have searched for the name in the KVK Naamchecker.
I have searched for the name in the BOIP trademark register and in TMview.
I have also searched for similar names: different spelling, plural, with a word before or after it.
For each match, I have checked which sector or which goods and services it covers.
I have used a search engine to check whether someone else already uses the name.

Then answer these questions for yourself:

Which matches did you find, and which sectors are they in?
Is there a match that could cause confusion with your business? Why or why not?
Is your name important enough to register as a trademark?

Exercise D2.3: Trademark and trade name check

You do this exercise yourself; no one checks it. Tick off what you've done and mark the exercise as done.

I have searched for the name in the trade register in my country (in the Netherlands the KVK Naamchecker).
I have searched for the name in the BOIP trademark register and in TMview.
I have also searched for similar names: different spelling, plural, with a word before or after it.
For each hit, I have checked which sector or which goods and services it covers.
I have used a search engine to check whether someone else already uses the name.

Which hits did you find, and which sector are they in?

Is there a hit that could be confused with your business? Why or why not?

Is your name important enough to register as a trademark?

Your ticks and notes only stay in this browser; we don't send them anywhere. If you're signed in, we only save in My courses that you've done the exercise.

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