Bernard Vanbrabant

Bernard Vanbrabant is a member of the Commercial and Litigation Practice Group.

Through 20 years of practice, Bernard has gained considerable experience in all sectors of IP law, having handled cases concerning copyright, database rights, designs, patents, trade secrets, designations of origin, trademarks, trade names and domain names. However, Bernard’s expertise expands beyond the limits of core IP law, to encompass in particular the connected fields of (unfair) competition law and of contract law.

Part of Bernard’s practice is geared towards litigation: he regularly handles opposition proceedings, infringement actions and seizures in matter of counterfeit, up to the ultimate level of judicial review (petitions for squashing before the Belgian Supreme Court, in team with Liedekerke’s attorney at the Cassation bar). Bernard has also acted in referrals for preliminary rulings before the Benelux Court of justice and the CJEU, and in statutes cancellation proceedings before the Constitutional Court (with Public law partner François Tulkens).

Further on, Bernard has gained extensive experience regarding IP related contracts: he drafts, negotiates, reviews and advises on a regular basis in relation to license agreements, publishing agreements, assignments of rights (including between employees and employers), IP pledges (securing the repayment of a credit), R&D, consortium and joint venture agreements, without neglecting the (European) competition law aspects thereof (the so-called block exemption regulations and related guidelines).

When it comes to unfair competition, Bernard has developed particular experience in helping companies to recover evidence of trade secret infringements through ex parte discovery proceedings, and he is also advising regularly on trade dress issues.

Bernard Vanbrabant is also Professor at the University of Liège (ULiège), where he teaches intellectual property law to law and engineering sciences students. He is a member of the Belgian Intellectual Property Council, (an advisory body to the Belgian government), a member of the board of the Belgian group of the Association international pour la protection de la propriété intellectuelle (AIPPI) and a member of the publishing committee of the IP law journals “IR-DI” and “IC-IP”.

Bernard holds a Master Degree and a PhD in Law (ULg 1998, ULg 2013). He also holds an LL.M. in Economic law (ULg 2002) and in Intellectual Property law (Intellectuele Rechten/Droits intellectuels), organised jointly by the University of Leuven and the University of Brussels (KUL – HUB-KAHO 2003).

Bernard is a member of the Brussels and Liège bar. He joined Liedekerke as Of Counsel in 2014.