Region: Belgium

Featured in Anti-counterfeiting: A Global Guide 2017

Belgium is a party to all major international agreements in the IP field, including the Paris Convention, the Berne Convention and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. In addition, the main substantive IP laws applicable in Belgium are contained in national laws, EU regulations and a Benelux convention.

18 May 2017

Featured in Anti-counterfeiting 2016 – A Global Guide

Belgium is a member state of the European Union, where goods can move freely in the internal market. Hence, border measures mainly target goods entering Belgium from outside the European Union or European Economic Area.

27 April 2016

Featured in Anti-counterfeiting 2016 – A Global Guide

Globalisation has added significant complexities to international trade and global supply chains. In this environment, customs authorities across the world have a unique role in achieving balance between regulation and trade facilitation.

27 April 2016

The Antwerp Commercial Court has held that, when assessing the similarity between a registered trademark and a sign in an infringement action, the trademark can be assessed only as registered (ie, greyscale in the present case). The court's reasoning with regard to the protection afforded to greyscale trademarks is debatable and is likely to be contradicted by higher courts.

16 July 2015

Featured in Anti-counterfeiting 2015 – A Global Guide

Belgium is a party to all major international agreements in the IP field, including the Paris Convention, the Berne Convention and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of IP Rights. In addition, the main substantive IP laws applicable in Belgium are contained in national laws, EU regulations and a Benelux convention.

08 May 2015

Featured in Anti-counterfeiting 2015 – A Global Guide

According to a recent CNN Money article, some companies have estimated that up to 80% of their goods found on internet marketplace Taobao.com are counterfeit. Meanwhile, Australia has announced that it has found counterfeit items in genuine packaging. Every day brings similar news of counterfeiting activity and heightened concerns as such goods may endanger the health and safety of consumers.

08 May 2015

In a recent judgment on the merits, the Brussels Commercial Court has held that the X shape of Mars’ Dentastix dog food constituted a valid 3D CTM and Benelux design. Both IP rights had been invoked against a Belgian company commercialising X-shaped chew sticks for dogs on the European market. Among other things, the court held that the defendant sought to free-ride on Mars’ DENTASTIX mark and to benefit from its power of attraction.

12 December 2014

The Commercial Court of Brussels has ordered the revocation of Gucci’s international registrations for its GG mark in the Benelux on the ground of non-use. The court dismissed Gucci’s claim that use of its CTM could be considered as use of its international marks, finding that the CTM was not a modernised version of the international registrations. In view of previous EU and Belgian case law, this decision seems harsh.

16 September 2014

DNS Belgium, the registry responsible for the management of ‘.be’ domain names, has announced that it is now possible for holders of a ‘.be’ domain name to request a list of variations of their domain name. This service will allow domain name holders to identify where variants of their domain name have been registered and allow them to assess whether the listed registrations are problematic.

19 March 2014

In <i>Media Markt v eBay</i>, the Court of Appeal of Brussels has clarified that comparative advertising that uses a third-party trademark, but does not meet the requirements of comparative advertising, does not automatically constitute trademark infringement. Among other things, the court held that it was unlikely that eBay’s use of identical signs in relation to identical goods was likely to affect any of the trademarks’ functions.

11 February 2014