Olivier Vrins

Olivier Vrins
Title: Partner
Practice Areas:
Phone: +3224261414
Fax: +3224262030
E-mail:

Born in Brussels, 1975; Admitted, 2000, Brussels.

Education: University of Louvain-la-Neuve (Lic. Jur., 1998); University of Paris II, France (Erasmus Exchange Program, 1998); University of Gent (Special Degree in European Law, 1999); Queen Mary & Westfield College, UK (LL.M. in Intellectual Property and Unfair Competition, 2000).

Languages: French, Dutch and English.

Professional activities:

  • Olivier Vrins is a partner at Brussels law firm ALTIUS' Intellectual Property department, where he heads the IPR Enforcement practice. Described as ‘one of the best in Europe in the Customs field’ (Managing Intellectual Property) and as a ‘highly skilled IP specialist’ (Chambers and partners), Olivier has extensive knowledge of the border measures system in the European Union and has also gained expertise in a broad range of other IPR-related topics, from trademark law to patent law. He is a member of the Sub-Group on Legal Framework set up within the European Observatory on Counterfeiting and Piracy reviewing the implementation status of the EU Enforcement Directive and making recommendations on how to improve IPR enforcement in the EU. He is a regular speaker at seminars on IPR enforcement and other IPR-related subjects and at the Academy of European Law (ERA – Trier, Germany). On the 1st of March 2012, he was invited to address the European Parliament on the issue of the compatibility of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) with the EU acquis on IPR enforcement and civil liberties
  • Member of the Council and of the Anti-Counterfeiting Committee of the European Communities Trade Mark Association (ECTA)
  • Member of The International Trademark Association (INTA)
  • Member of the Association Internationale pour la Protection de la Propriété intellectuell (AIPPI)
  • Member of the Belgian Alliance against IP Theft
  • Member of the Belgian Alliance against IP Theft
  • Member of the editorial board of the BMM Bulletin (Benelux publication on trademarks and designs.)

 

Market recognition:

Publications:

  • Belgian Chapter in The International Comperative Legal Guide to: Patents 2013 (With C. Ronse)
  • Enforcement of intellectual property rights through border measures: law and practice in the EU, Oxford University Press, 2006, 1282 p. (with M. Schneider), second edition
  • Maintaining the website www.bordermeasures.com (with M. Schneider)
  • Belgian Chapter in Practitioner's Manual for Trademark Prosecution and Litigation in the EU (Dr F. Hauck ed),Sweet & Maxwell, 2011
  • Commission's Action Plan to combat counterfeiting and piracy ...", JIPLP 2006, 446-448 (with M. Schneider)
  • "The European Commission's proposal for a regulation concerning Customs enforcement of IP rights", JIPLP 2011, (link to article)
  • “Overzicht rechtspraak octrooirecht 2007-2010" ("Evolutions in patent law: 2007-2010"), TBH-RDC 2011, 393-452 (With C. Ronse, P. de Jong)
  • "The real story of a fiction: transit after Montex under regulation (EC) 1383/2003", JIPLP 2010, 358-371
  • "La répression de la contrefaçon et de la piraterie de droits de propriété intellectuelle. La loi du 15 mai 2007: instrument à la pointe ou texte épineux ?", JT 2008, 181-192 (with F. Hostier and M. Schneider)
  • "Class Actions from Jacobs to Jacob", WIPR 2008, 38
  • "What's new in relation to border measures and criminal law in Belgium", ECTA Gazette 2007/55 (with F. Hostier and M. Schneider)
  • "Look-alikes, counterfeits in disguise ?", WCO News 2007/54, 41
  • "Evoluties in het Octrooirecht: overzicht van rechtspraak 2003-2006" ("Review of case law: patent Law, 2003-2006"), TBH 2007, 423-480 (with P. de Jong and C. Ronse)
  • "The EU Offensive against IP offences: should right-holders be offended?", JIPLP 2006, 173-176 (with M. Schneider)
  • "Trade Mark Use in Transit: EU-Phony or Cacophony?”, JIPLP 2005, 43-50 (with M. Schneider) (cited in ECJ C446/09 + C 495/09 3 February 2011 (Philips))
  • "Le Règlement (CE) n° 1383/2003 du conseil des communautés européennes du 22 juillet 2003: "Le droit douanier élargit ses frontières", IRDI 2004, 101 - 117
  • “Intellectual property licensing and competition law: some news from the front – The role of market power and ‘Double Jeopardy’ in the E.C. Commission’s New Deal”, EIPR 2001, 576
  • "Case comment on Sprints Ltd. Vs. Comptroller of Customs and Chipie Design SA, Privy Council (16 December 1999)", EIPR 2000, N-128
  • "Belgium and Luxembourg chapters of the new Practitioner's Guide to the Madrid agreement and Protocol" International trademark Association (with C. Ronse)

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