Your European Legal Team for Transatlantic Expansion

When opening in the US, a Dutch company retains: (1) GDPR if the US subsidiary processes EU citizens' data (European employees, European customers of the subsidiary); (2) EUTMs and European patents that must be renewed and defended; (3) AI Act if AI systems are deployed in the EU; (4) contracts with European distributors and intra-group agreements that remain binding. The European legal team must remain active.

We establish a joint working protocol where A2 manages the EU side and the US or UK firm manages the local side. All communication is in English. We meet periodically to align strategy. For technology companies, our Dutch clients frequently work with Silicon Valley, New York or London firms — we are experienced in coordinating with these teams.

No. Since 1 January 2021, EUTMs no longer protect in the UK. EUTMs registered before Brexit were automatically converted into comparable UK registrations without requiring action. However, EUTMs registered after Brexit have no UK coverage. To protect a trademark in the UK, you need a separate UKIPO registration or a Madrid Protocol application. We manage the UK-EU strategy for your trademark portfolio.

The Dutch tech ecosystem has produced successful scale-ups in English-speaking markets: Booking.com (now part of Booking Holdings), TomTom, Adyen, IMCD, and many others in fintech, cybersecurity, agritech and enterprise SaaS. For these companies, IP protection in the US and UK and AI Act/GDPR compliance are prerequisites for any investment round in English-speaking markets.

Many Dutch companies hold IP in the NL holding or a separate IP holding, granting licences to operational subsidiaries. For US expansion, this means: (1) reviewing whether the intra-group licence agreement covers US territory; (2) ensuring US IP registrations (USPTO) are in the name of the correct group entity; (3) coordinating IP policy with the transfer pricing agreement. We advise on the contractual side of this structure, coordinating with tax advisers for fiscal aspects.

Official fees are: USPTO $350/class and UKIPO £200/class. For a single-class trademark in both markets, official fees total approximately €500. Professional fees for prior rights searches and application management add €1,500-2,000. Total cost for an uncontested registration in both markets ranges from €2,000-3,500 per class. For tech companies with trademarks in multiple classes, costs scale accordingly.