{"id":120464,"date":"2020-12-02T12:47:01","date_gmt":"2020-12-02T11:47:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=120464"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:25:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:25:16","slug":"you-should-only-consider-becoming-a-phd-student-if-you-have-the-right-motivation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2020\/12\/02\/you-should-only-consider-becoming-a-phd-student-if-you-have-the-right-motivation\/","title":{"rendered":"‘You should only consider becoming a PhD student if you have the right motivation’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dutch Trade Name Act is nearly a century old. Partly due to a lack of European guidance, it has remained essentially unchanged over the years. But it is overdue for a revision, says lawyer-cum-external PhD candidate Roderick Chalmers Hoynck van Papendrecht, who makes a clearly defined proposal for such a revision in his PhD dissertation, entitled \u2018De Handelsnaamwet onder de loep\u2019 (An analysis of the Trade Name Act).<\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLevien Willemse<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

What was the subject of your doctoral research?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTrade name law, and more particularly Dutch trade name law. This comes under intellectual property law. Intellectual property rights are protected in pretty much the same way in the various European countries, which is handy, considering the amount of cross-border trade. Trade name law is a special exception in this respect, as it is still drafted on the domestic level. The Act has not been amended much since it was drafted in 1921. This will cause problems down the track, because there\u2019s no denying that our world has changed considerably in the last century.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs part of my research project, I analysed the entire Trade Name Act. What was the legislature seeking to achieve with this act, how did it come into being, and how do we feel about that now? Maybe our economy and society have changed to such an extent that we also view trade name law differently, and maybe the Act is in need of a revision.\u201d<\/p>\n

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How did you conduct that study?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was quite the challenge, because very little has been published on trade name law in the last few decades, which meant I could only use case law as a source, to check whether the Act has resulted in any strange court orders. Since case law often concerns highly factual matter, it\u2019s not always easy to discern a clear trend in it. In the end, I read a thousand court orders, and I did notice a few trends. My supervisor told me early on in the process that it might be a good idea for me to make a suggestion for a revision of the act at the end of my study. So, partly to gain some inspiration for that, I decided to compare the Dutch system with the way trade name law has been used in Germany.\u201d<\/p>\n

Are there major differences between the various European countries?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYes, they are quite significant. When I first embarked on my research project, I attended a trade name law session at a conference in Prague. It lasted about two or three hours, and by the end, we hadn\u2019t even arrived at an agreement on how to define a trade name. Furthermore, in the Netherlands the acts governing trademarks and trade names (trade names are the names of businesses, whereas trademarks are logos used to distinguish between products and services \u2013 ed.) are quite different, but in Germany they are reasonably well aligned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\tThe Trade Name Act was drafted to prevent the public from being confused, but these days, it seems much more geared towards protecting the interests of the first person to choose a particular name. I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s justifiable.\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t\t\t
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How is this act causing problems?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cDuring my viva (PhD defence ceremony \u2013 ed.), I brought up a 2014 case as an example. In this case, a party who ran a website called \u2018kleding.nl\u2019 tried to get another party banned from using the name \u2018kleding.com\u2019. In trademark law, one of the main rules in effect stipulates that you can only obtain a valid trademark if the logo has distinctiveness; it must be somewhat original. There is no such requirement in trade name law, which meant that \u2018kleding.nl\u2019 won the case. The Trade Name Act was drafted to prevent the public from being confused, but these days, it seems much more geared towards protecting the interests of the first person to choose a particular name. I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s justifiable. It makes sense that the gap between trademark law and trade name law be bridged to some extent. That\u2019s one of the main conclusions I drew in my study.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt so happens that right now, the Dutch Supreme Court is dealing with a case that may present an answer to the question as to whether trade name law should have a distinctiveness requirement. The outcome of that case may determine the future of trade name law. The timing of that case is absolutely wonderful, but they may find themselves thinking, \u2018Nice, all this stuff that this Chalmers guy wrote, but in actual fact, we completely disagree.\u2019 That would be a pity.\u201d<\/p>\n

What made you want to conduct doctoral research on this subject?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d been a lawyer for several years, and every time I ran into an issue like this, I\u2019d think, how is this even possible? I\u2019m definitely not the type who always knew he wanted to get a PhD, and I suspect some people will be surprised to hear that I ended up doing this. I wasn\u2019t exactly a devoted student. But once I started working, I discovered a passion for intellectual property law that sometimes went beyond the folders on my desk. I sometimes collaborated with the man who ended up becoming my supervisor, and I asked him whether I might be accepted as a PhD student, because I knew he was a professor in Rotterdam. He immediately thought it was a good idea, but also tried to talk me out of it, because he\u2019d seen too many lawyers who were trying to get a PhD on top of their jobs drop out prematurely.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\u2018Things don\u2019t exactly get any easier when the folks at home complain every single time you don\u2019t have time to do something.\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

Was the combination of those two things manageable for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be flexible. Sometimes I was incredibly busy, so I\u2019d have to put my dissertation on the back burner for a while. I\u2019m not the first person at my law firm to get a PhD. Others told me that they\u2019d never have gotten started on their research if they\u2019d known in advance what it\u2019s like to get a PhD on top of working as a lawyer. Those were not very encouraging things to hear. Fortunately, my own experience wasn\u2019t like that. I have no regrets whatsoever. However, I do think you should only consider getting a PhD if you have the right motivation. If people want to get a PhD because they think it will help their reputation in the market, I think they\u2019re going to have a very rough time of it. What helped me, I think, was the fact that I was intrinsically motivated to conduct research and was supported by those around me. When I embarked on my PhD, I had some long discussions with my wife, because we knew it was going to be a pretty intensive process. I consider myself lucky that she has given me the opportunity to do this in these last few years. Things don\u2019t exactly get any easier when the folks at home complain every single time you don\u2019t have time to do something.\u201d<\/p>\n

The photographer told me that you had some difficulty fitting your name on the wall of the Sweat Room (a room where graduates are allowed to write their names on the wall when they are awarded their degree certificates \u2013 ed.).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Laughs: \u201cNo matter how short your name is, I think it\u2019s always hard to find an empty space on that wall. However, that needn\u2019t stop you if you have a marker with a big felt tip. I think my name will be on that wall for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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