Countries: the Netherlands
Having first abolished all its IP laws in the late 19th century, which
were not reintroduced until the early 20th when national industry
began to take off, the Kingdom of the Netherlands (local name: Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
is now a member to most intellectual property-related treaties.
Due to the huge success of the European Patent Convention and the
associated drop in national patent applications, its own
highly praised patent office was replaced by a registration system in 1995.
The Netherlands, together with Belgium and
Luxembourg, share a single trademark
and design protection law.
For general country information, see the
Netherlands in the CIA World
Factbook.