Enforcing Your Patent: Objection
You may file an objection to a decision of the Netherlands Patent Office (a department of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency). Which of our letters do in fact contain a decision will be stated in the letter itself. At the bottom of the text on the first page you will see that you have the opportunity to file a notice of objection.
Your notice of objection should be submitted to our office within 6 weeks of the date of the decision. You must state clearly in your notice of objection exactly which decision you are objecting to, and also why you do not agree with the decision.
Hearing
In most cases you will then be called up to attend a public hearing, at which you can explain in person to the objections committee (comprising members of our staff) the substance of your objection. During such a hearing, the objections committee will also ask you questions in order to obtain a complete picture of the case.
Decision
A short time afterwards you will receive our decision, explaining why your objection is well-founded (you are successful) or unfounded (you are unsuccessful). Very occasionally a notice of objection will be declared inadmissible. This is the case if the notice of objection is submitted too late, or if an objection is lodged against a letter from our office that does not contain a decision.
If you do not agree with this decision on the objection, you may lodge an appeal at the District Court of The Hague. When and where you should do this is stated in the decision on the objection.
Questions about patents?
If you need more information on how to apply for a patent in the Netherlands, please contact the public information office.
- Ministry of Economic Affairs
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