Jacqueline Schaap

Lawyer since 1988. Focus on unlawful press publications and reputation damage, copyright, design, format protection, (copyright) contract law, film law, trademark law and advertising law.

Jacqueline.schaap@ipmc.nl

Jacqueline Schaap has been an intellectual property and media lawyer since 1988. She is one of the founders and partner of the firm. She works particularly in the areas of unlawful press publications and reputation damage, copyright, design, format protection, (authors’) contract law, film law, trademark law and advertising law. She has very broad litigation experience.

Jacqueline advises, drafts contracts and litigates for national and international clients, including publishers, TV and film producers, broadcasters, designers, advertisers and brand owners. Clients appreciate her ability to get to the point quickly, to formulate concisely and clearly and her eye for detail.

Jacqueline is always accurate, likable and sincerely concerned with all the cases she is involved in.

Jacqueline was till September 1st 2025 (co-)dean of the Amsterdam Bar Association, member of the Disciplinary Council for Financial Services and of the Supervisory Board of the Benelux Association for Trademark and Design Agents (BMM). She is a member of the International Trademark Association (INTA), the European Communities Trademark Association (ECTA), Association Internationale pour la Protection de la Propriété Intellectuelle (AIPPI), Marques, the Benelux Association for Trademark and Design Law (BMM) and several Dutch Associations. Jacqueline regularly lectures in the field of intellectual property and unlawful press publications.

Jacqueline Schaap has been designated a ‘key individual’ by Chambers for 11 years and has also been a ‘leading individual’ in media and entertainment in Legal 500 for many years. She has received the ‘Client Choice Award’ for copyright lawyer several times and has been designated ‘Media lawyer of the year’ and ‘Copyright lawyer of the year’ several times by Best Lawyer.

Some recommendations for Jacqueline:

Legal 500 (2022) calls her “a giant in media entertainment. The kind of lawyer you want on your side in times of crisis.” Chambers (2022) says of her “she knows the business, the market and the players and she is very easy to access and responds very quickly” and “she manages difficult cases well“.

Jacqueline has registered “Intellectual property law” as her main area of law in the register of areas of law of the Dutch Bar Association. Pursuant to this registration, she is obliged to obtain ten training points in this area of law each calendar year according to the standards of the Dutch Bar Association.

Representative work

Action against Facebook for keeping removed misleading bitcoin ads featuring the portrait of a Dutch celebrity;
Proceedings against Thierry Baudet over regarding several tweets in which he compared the corona measures to the Holocaust;
Various proceedings for TV producers, broadcasters and publishers on the legality of TV broadcasts and press publications in which portrait rights, use of hidden cameras and broadcast/publication bans, among others, were addressed;
Various proceedings on the format of TV programmes;
Advice on advertising, price displays and promotional campaigns to a large supermarket chain;
Litigation on copyright and design rights to a chair where the issue was whether a chair based on the 1940s-1960s “sprite chair” infringed Homefashion Group’s Liverno chair.

Throughout her legal career, she has held many additional administrative posts, including member of the Dutch Copyright Commission (Commissie Auteursrecht), the advisory board of the Ministry of Justice, board member of the advertising society Genootschap voor Reclame, board member of the Dutch Foundation for Copyright Promotion (Stichting Auteursrechtmanifestaties), member of the Advisory Committee to SIRE, board member of the Rathenau Institute, board member of the theatre company Toneelgroep Amsterdam, and, for many years, she was a member of the Supervisory Committee of the Amsterdam Bar Association (Amsterdamse Orde van Advocaten). Currently, she is Chair of the Fellow Fund, related to SIRE, and a member of the Disciplinary Appeals Tribunal (Hof van Discipline) of the Dutch Bar Association.

Jacqueline has various publications to her name and regularly gives lectures on intellectual property law, licences and unlawful press publications.

Some testimonials for Jacqueline Schaap

Jacqueline Schaap is named in Chambers as ‘key individual’. She “has the perfect hands-on approach – she gives practical advice which is always a good mix of the legal and commercial aspects”. “She has a no-nonsense, pragmatic approach and is very convincing,” say interviewees. (Chambers Europe 2015). Clients admire her “strong IP knowledge” and describe her as “pragmatic, quick and pleasant to work with.” (Chambers Europe 2017). Legal 500 calls her ‘a very practical lawyer, who has a clear vision but also keeps in mind the commercial interests’. By Best Lawyers she is named as ‘Media Lawyer of the Year ‘ in 2013 and as ‘Advertising Lawyer of the Year’ in 2014. She received the ‘Client Choice Award for copyright lawyer’ in both 2013 and 2014. Clients say about her that she is “a very knowledgeable, experienced, passionate, accessible and pragmatic counsel, who goes the extra mile for her clients”, “always available and very easy to work with as she has a huge knowledge of the industry”, “Jacqueline’s practical advice is always a good mix of the law and the commercial aspects of our company” and “Jacqueline is always accurate, likable and sincerely concerned with all the cases she is involved in”. “Jacqueline Schaap is a compelling litigator who has notched up more than 28 years of courtroom experience; she excels on cases where media and trademark issues are intertwined”. (WTR 1000 2017).

Mobile:

+31 6 21 53 13 47

Phone:

+31 20 723 8902

Highlighted Procedures:

TV-format

Fictional novel character

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Procedures

Character in a novel

2 July 2023

Facebook ads

28 June 2023

The District Court of Amsterdam ruled on November 11, 2019 that Facebook cease fake bitcoin ads using the name and image of John de Mol, a leading European media entrepreneur. Judge R.A. Dudok van Heel said Facebook must take responsibility for its platforms and measures to prevent these fake ads appearing regardless of cost or effort. Facebook cannot invoke the safe harbour provision of the EU E-Commerce Directive for its advertising platform. Allowing the bitcoin ads and not removing them is unlawful towards the victims of these ads and John de Mol. Further, the judge ruled that Facebook must furnish the identifying data of the providers of the ads.

Design

27 June 2023

Litigation on whether the design of an enormous illuminated flowerpot is protected by copyright and/or design right and whether a similar illuminated pot is infringing these rights.

Publications

Facebook ads decision

28 June 2023

ENGLISH TRANSLATION FACEBOOK ADS DECISION

Advertising law

28 June 2023

An overview of the Dutch rules and regulations concerning advertising law. La Publicité et la Loi, Chapter 12 Les Pays Bas, 11st edition, Lexis Nexis SA, 2009.

Trademark law

28 June 2023

What are the relevant infringement criteria for trade mark infringement and how to assess them. Confusion or association: lost track (Verwarring of associatie: het spoor bijster), In: D.J.G. Visser and D.W.F. Verkade (eds.), Een eigen, oorspronkelijk karakter, p. 301-309.

Image rights

28 June 2023

Can non-public figures invoke image rights and if so, to what extent. The commercial interests of the non-public figure (Het commercieel belang van de onbekende), in: D.J.G. Visser (ed.), Commercieel Portretrecht (Commercial Image rights), p. 75-82.

Jacqueline Schaap

Jacqueline Schaap

Procedures

Character in a novel

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Design

Publications

Facebook ads decision

Advertising law

Trademark law

Image rights

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