Recording your ideas

Recording your ideas

Doing business succesfully starts with registration

You are creative and regularly come up with new ideas for products and services. The i-DEPOT of the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property can help you prevent others from stealing your idea before you have had an opportunity to work it out in greater detail and ensure that it is legally protected.

What is an i-DEPOT? The i-DEPOT facility of the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property is a means of proof. You can compare it to the date stamp issued by the Tax Office or on a notarial deed. The i-DEPOT is an affordable, reliable, fast and easy method to record the existence of your idea, format or prototype. It can be submitted online. The i-DEPOT does not prove that your idea is original or invented and created by you.

When could an i-DEPOT be useful?

The i-DEPOT can be useful for instance when you come into conflict over the authorship of an idea or creation. The fact is you do not have to register copyright. There is no official copyright register. So long as you have created an original work that has an individual character you will have copyright protection. In case of a conflict you need proof to show the court that the idea or creation was in your possession at a particular date. But then it can also be useful to submit an i-DEPOT with a detailed description of an invention or concept, before you initiate negiotiations with a potential partner. This way you can demonstrate that the idea was allready in your possession. This can help you prevent your potential partner from sneaking off with your idea.

The i-DEPOT is a means of proof providing you with a date stamp. It demonstrates that you have submitted an idea or creation at a particular date.

However, the i-DEPOT does not in itself create any intellectual property right and therefore does not offer any protection. We recommend that you consider protecting your creation after its design phase through trademark, design or patent registration.

How does i-DEPOT work?

You can submit your i-DEPOT directly online. This is fast, easy and, above all, safe. In a number of steps you will be asked to fill in your reference details and add a description and/or representation of your concept or idea. Note that the file (or set of files) you submit should not be larger than 100MB. Once the payment has been processed, you will receive a confirmation by e-mail and you can download your i-DEPOT certificate immediately from your secure “My i-DEPOT� environment. Your i-DEPOT certificate is a digital PDF file with a unique number. You can use your i-DEPOT certificate as evidence in the event of a legal dispute or conflict. The certificate features the officially recognised signature of the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP). Every change in the description and/or attached files will automatically render the i-DEPOT certificate invalid.

The Benelux Office for Intellectual Property observes full confidentiality with regard to your i-DEPOT. An i-DEPOT is stored for a standard term of five years. Shortly before the end of that period you will be notified and given the opportunity to extend this period by another five years.You can renew your i-DEPOT as many times as you wish. Whether you choose to extend the storage period of your i-DEPOT or not, this will not affect the validity of the online i-DEPOT as a means of proof.

The i-DEPOT envelope The i-DEPOT envelope is available in case it is impossible or undesirable for you to record your concept or idea electronically, or to pay electronically.

An i-DEPOT envelope is stored for a standard term of five or ten years.

We will send you an i-DEPOT envelope as soon as we have received the order form and your payment. The order form can be downloaded on www.boip.int and is also available on request from our Information Centre.

The envelope consists of two parts, in each of which you should place an identical document describing or depicting your creation as clearly as possible. You then return both parts of the envelope to the BOIP. You can ask the BOIP to send you the second part as well (once only) to provide evidence in the case of a legal dispute or conflict.

You can purchase online -DEPOTs also according to a graduated scale of fees. To do so, you can open a credit Please be careful when filling in

account at www.boip.int. This is benificial if you are planning

h your details. Any uncertainty with

to submit i-DEPOTs on a regular basis. To open a credit

regard to your identity or the con-

account we charge a once-only activation fee of € 350.

tents of your i-DEPOT might cause

The tariff of the graduated scale of fees depends on the

the court to reject your i-DEPOT as

number of credits you purchase.

documentary evidence.

The BOIP dates your i-DEPOT evelope upon receipt, returns one part to your address and files the other in its own archives unopened. You can ask the BOIP to send you the second part as well (once only) to provide evidence in the case of a legal dispute or conflict.

What does an i-DEPOT cost?

In fact, the attractive price is one of the many benefits of the i-DEPOT. Online i-DEPOT

i-DEPOT envelope

i-DEPOT for 5 years

€ 35

€ 45

i-DEPOT for 10 years

-

€ 65

by 5 years

€ 25

€ 45

Reproduction on CD-ROM

€ 15

-

i-DEPOT extension of storage period

Online i-DEPOT via a credit account Once-only fee for opening a credit account € 350 20 credits € 100 (€ 5 each) 50 credits € 225 (€ 4.50 each) 100 credits € 400 (€ 4 each) 250 credits € 875 (€ 3.50 each) 500 credits € 1,250 (€ 2.50 each) Extension of storage period by 5 years: 1 credit One i-DEPOT costs 1 credit. For i-DEPOTs sizes in excess of 10MB you will be charged 2 credits and in excess of 50MB 3 credits (up to a maximum of 100MB per i-DEPOT).

“Potential conflicts can be avoided with the i-DEPOT” ‘We design and produce parts for bicycle manufacturers. We started out with only luggage carriers and mudguards, but have since expanded our range with dress guards, chain guards and other parts. We’re constantly and proactively pursuing new ideas and showing them to customers.

At that stage an idea is not ready for patenting yet, but there’s the chance that it will ‘sprout wings’: that other people will get wind of it.

An i-DEPOT enables us to point to a creation date, thereby avoiding any potential conflict. It can happen that we submit an i-DEPOT on the eve of a presentation – like just last week, for two bicycle designs.’

Name: Dirk Vens Job title: Director of Curana, www.curana.com i-DEPOT date: several annually Idea: Two bicycle designs, among other things

Benelux Office for Intellectual Property The Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP) is the official body for the registration of trademarks and designs in the Benelux. In addition the BOIP can formally record record the existence of an idea, concept, design, prototype and the like on a certain date. The mission of the BOIP is to ensure that all trademarks, designs and ideas in the Benelux are registered and that entrepreneurs know where and how they can find legal protection for their intellectual property, and why that protection is important.

The aim of the BOIP is to distinguish itself as a professional provider of services in connection with the registration of intellectual property.

Contact Would you like to know more about i-DEPOT,

National Offices

or about the registration of trademarks and

FPS Economy

designs? Then visit our website at www.boip.int.

S.M.E.’s, Self-employed and Energy Market Regularisation and Organisation Board

Alternatively, you can contact our Information

Intellectual Property Unit

Centre. The BOIP Information Centre can be

North Gate III - Koning Albert II Laan 16

reached by telephone on working days

1000 Brussels - Belgium

between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. at:

T + 32 2 277 52 97

070 349 12 42 (from the Netherlands)

F + 32 2 277 52 77

070 244 242 (from Belgium)

piie.trademarks@economie.fgov.be

8002 5383 (from Luxemburg)

http://economie.fgov.be/opri-die.jsp

General address

Ministère de l’Economie et du Commerce

Benelux Office for Intellectual Property

extérieur

Bordewijklaan 15

Office de la propriété intellectuelle

2591 XR The Hague

Boulevard Royal 19-21

The Netherlands

L -2449 Luxembourg - G.D. Luxembourg

T +31 70 349 11 11

T +352 247 841 87

F +31 70 347 57 08

F +352 222 6 60

info@boip.int

dpi@eco.etat.lu

www.boip.int

www.eco.public.lu