News

ALTIUS is proud to announce that Lieven Peeters joined the firm as a Partner on 15 February 2010. Lieven joins ALTIUS from Linklaters where he started his career 13 years ago. He will considerably strengthen ALTIUS’ Real Estate & Regulatory department and the firm’s overall position on the Belgian market.

IP Lawyer and plant variety rights specialist Philippe de Jong contributed to the latest edition of FloraCulture International, the business magazine for floriculture worldwide. The issue deals with Intellectual Property protection for plant innovations and was co-published by CIOPORA, a global assocation of breeders.

On 1 September 2009, the long-anticipated Social Security Agreement between the Kingdom of Belgium and the Republic of India (the “SSA”) entered into force. The SSA was signed in New Delhi on 3 November 2006 and is considered as a landmark agreement as it was the first treaty of its kind to be signed by the Indian authorities.  Therefore it is likely to serve as a benchmark for similar agreements between India and other countries.

Olivier Vrins, partner at ALTIUS, wrote the Counterfeiting Perspectives column in the World Trademark Review, entitled "Protecting Fortress Europe". In his column, Olivier deals with the issue of counterfeiters using current rules to cover their tracks and claims that without urgent attention to this matter, the tide of fake goods could overwhelm rights holders' defences.

Partner in the Intellectual Property, Life Science and Litigation departments of ALTIUS, Christophe Ronse spoke at the fifth European Judges’ Forum 2009 that was held in Venice on 30-31 October 2009. This event was organised by the European Patent Academy in co-operation with the Intellectual Property Judges Association (IPJA) and the European Patent Lawyers Association (EPLAW). Mr Ronse will also speak at EPLAW's upcoming congress in Brussels on 20 November 2009.

In Belgium, contracting agreements are subject to the Belgian Civil Code (‘BCC’) plus several other regulations. In this article, we briefly discuss five rules which foreign investors or principals may be surprised apply to Belgian contracting agreements. Make sure you avoid these pitfalls!

On 22 June 2009, the Brussels Court of Appeal ruled that it was competent to review a decision by an arbitration panel, if it threatened public order and therefore could decide whether or not the arbitration panel’s decision was contrary to Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty. However, the Court held that it could not annul or review a decision by an arbitration panel that was only concerned with an award of damages between parties to an agreement nullified because it infringed EU competition law.

ALTIUS is participating to the first edition of an anti-counterfeiting workshop that is organised for all public services in Begium that deal with counterfeiting, such as customs, national and local police, and economic inspection. 

BETECH is the new reference ICT network in Belgium where technology professionals can meet, exchange views and share experiences regarding new ICT trends. The association will organise a variety of multidisciplinary events and activities, such as conferences, study visits and seminars. Head of ALTIUS' ICT Practice, Gerrit Vandendriessche, is one of the founders.

ALTIUS is proud to announce that Olivier Vrins was made partner. Olivier specialises in Intellectual Property law and heads ALTIUS’ Anti-Counterfeiting Practice. Over the last years, he has consolidated our outstanding reputation in this field on both the Belgian and the international scene.

The Royal Decree of 8 October 2008 amending the Belgian Companies Code (“BCC”) has amended the rules on financial assistance. The new rules entered into force on 1 January 2009. The Royal Decree implements European Directive 2006/68/EC amending the Second Company Law Directive.

In this issue, ALTIUS' Public and Regulatory Department discusses some of the recent highlights in the case law of the European Court of Justice. This edition of the Public Procurement Newsletter contains articles on "In-house exemption" and "capacity swaps"; combating collusion between tenderers; and the question whether or not sickness insurance funds are to be viewed as contracting authorities. Read the Newsletter here.

On May 25 2009 the Competition Council fined Proximus €66.3 million for abuse of a dominant position. The decision followed an investigation started in 2005 and a dawn raid of the Proximus headquarters in 2006.

The Belgian Competition Act was the subject-matter of a thorough reform in 2006. The Multi-Purpose Act of May 6, 2009 only contains 15 amendments to the Belgian Competition Act.

On the occasion of REALTY 2009, Belgium's premier International Real Estate Forum, that took place 5-7 May 2009, ALTIUS and Tiberghien have published the Real Estate Gazette. This newspaper deals with current hot topics and recent legal developments in the real estate business in Belgium.

Directive 2006/68/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 6 September 2006 has amended the Second Company Law Directive in relation to maintenance of capital.

In recent years parallel trade in the pharmaceutical sector has been a hot topic. On September 16 2008 the European Court of Justice published its eagerly anticipated judgment on the refusal to supply by dominant pharmaceutical companies in the Syfait II Case. Recently, the Belgian competition authorities have also addressed this subject when dismissing an appeal by Bofar, an exporter of pharmaceutical products.

Things change over time. This is also the case in the timesharing business. The European legislator, who is well aware of this and already dealt with this type of business by adopting a directive on 26 October 1994, has recently adopted a new legislative act dealing with timesharing, thus bringing European legislation up-to-date.

Paul Maeyaert, partner at ALTIUS and head of the intellectual property and unfair competition practice, examines the ECJ case law and takes a closer look at some of the key issues in the transit debate.

This contribution deals with the effects of the 2007 Braunschweig judgment of the European Court of Justice on judicial protection in public procurement law after the award of a public contract.