From political parties to kitchens and concert stages: the legal stakes behind the name “Anders”

Only last Monday, the political party Open VLD announced a name change to “Anders”. Since then, there have been reports of third parties disliking the name or logo change because they feel it is (too) similar to their own name or logo.

Kitchen company Kaster Keukens made clear on several social media posts that it found the Anders logo suspiciously similar to its own logo: “Good taste: yes. Original: no.” Rock band Anders stated that it would have to rebrand, since its identical name would now make people think of a political party, whereas the rock band wants to remain politically neutral. Further, Bazart’s frontman Mathieu Terryn posted a story: “POV you have the feeling that you know the new name of Open VLD from somewhere”, while playing the refrain of Bazart’s song “Anders” in the background. Finally, some local political parties have already been using the name “Anders”.

This reminds us of when the political party SP-A changed its name to Vooruit. At the time, the Ghent art centre De Vooruit and some local political parties raised objections. The local political parties even took legal action, albeit unsuccessfully. 

Neither the kitchen company Kaster Keukens nor rock band Anders nor Bazart’s frontman Mathieu Terryn have indicated that they would take legal action. However, could they legally object to the name change?

The political party filed a Benelux trademark on 18 January 2026, which looks like this:

Kaster Keukens filed a Benelux trademark with its logo only three days later, on 21 January 2026, which looks like this:

Accordingly, even if the trademarks and goods and services were similar and there could be confusion (which, in my opinion, is not the case), the political party was first. This means that Kaster Keukens cannot object to the name change as a matter of trademark law. Earlier trade name rights could have been a legal basis, but only if the signs, activities and geographical sphere were sufficiently similar, which, again, is doubtful.

As to the bands Anders and Bazart, the same applies. On the face of it, they have no intellectual property rights that would allow them to prevent this name and logo change. It appears that they are aware of this, as none of them have indicated that they would take legal action.

Moral of the story: the name change appears to be a win-win for all parties involved, as it attracts a lot of attention and creates free publicity.