The BES Islands—Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba—are special municipalities of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean. While they are part of the Netherlands, their trademark system operates independently from that of the mainland or the Benelux.
Trademarks in the BES Islands are filed through the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property, also known as BOIP, which manages trademarks and designs for both the Benelux region and the Caribbean Netherlands.
Filing a trademark in the BES Islands ensures exclusive rights to your brand within this Caribbean territory. Before submitting an application, it is highly recommended to request a trademark search to verify that no conflicting marks exist.
Once filed, the BOIP examines the application for formal compliance and checks for potential conflicts with earlier marks. If the trademark meets all legal requirements, it is published in the official register and subsequently registered.
Although the BES Islands’ system does not include a formal opposition process, once a trademark is registered, cancellation actions may still be filed on either absolute or relative grounds (for example, if the mark is misleading or conflicts with a prior registration).