There is nothing more annoying than investing in your brand and finding out that your brand is no longer available. In other words: someone else has a right to the brand.
Therefore, before you spend those marketing euros: search the trademark register, the trade register, search online and the domain name register. Because that way you can prevent a possible conflict with someone else (with a lot of legal hassle and costs as a result) as much as possible.
Two bonus tips for searching the trademark register effectively
Don't just look for identical brands, but also email leads for brands that are similar to yours, because they can also be problematic.
Look carefully at the products and/or services that the brands found relate to. Are they the same products and/or services as yours? Or does it look like them? Then that could be a problem.
For well-known brands, the products and/or services they relate to are often less important. These brands can have a broader scope of protection. For example, you probably wouldn't be able to start a brand like 'Coca Cola' for services provided by beauticians. Even though Coca Cola® has most likely not registered their brand for those services.
Is your brand distinctive enough?
Suppose you start the brand “Lekker” for beef burgers. You immediately have a positive association. But can you register this name as a Benelux brand? No, unfortunately not. Then “Black Angus Beef” for beef burgers? Not possible either. A logo with a simple image of a cow then? Nope.