The practice at Linklaters is ‘highly knowledgeable, responsive and efficient’, with expertise in contentious and transactional IP matters, acting on complex corporate, finance, and antitrust matters. The team collaborates closely with the TMT practice of the firm. Team head Pieter Van Den Broecke is a ’real super star in IP’, with expertise across patents, trademarks, and copyrights. Tom De Coster is key to the team, and has expertise in technology.
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Highly knowledgeable, responsive and efficient.’
‘We feel fortunate to be able to work with the IP team at Linklaters. We are dealing with many firms, but Linklaters really stands out. Their knowledge of legal and commercial matters on which we are working is very high. They are reliable, consistent, flexible and always available. They offer sound and intelligent input and really assist the business in making sound decisions. We have done contracts and litigation matters together and the Brussels IP team excels in both. They use AI and related technology where available and we have already seen the efficiencies this has resulted in.’
‘Pieter Van Den Broecke is a real super star in IP. He manages the world of IP very well, both when dealing with contracts and when working on litigation matters. We have a lot of experience in the legal sector, but this combination is really exceptional. He is very efficient, which allows us to involve him on matters that are complex and require a cross-jurisdictional approach. He is also very available and flexible. In Brussels, Tom De Coster is very good as well. He knows his stuff and is particularly useful during negotiations and contract drafting. Both Pieter and Tom use their knowledge of the sector to render commercial and useful advice.’
‘We have found the team, and in particular Pieter Van den Broecke, to be our trusted advisors on a variety of intellectual property related questions over the years. They provide a straight, clear, unbiased and practical input on a variety of topics (going from trademarks to patents).’
‘Pieter Van Den Broecke: Easily available, clear and open communication (both regarding positive and negative messages), going beyond the pure legal questions and taking into account the commercial/practical/personal interests. Also a calm and knowledgeable, but sufficiently forceful, advisor to have on our side when negotiating tricky trademark agreements.’
Key clients
- BNP Paribas
- Nestlé
- Unilever
- AXA S.A.
- Solvay
- Syensqo
- RTL Group
- Lesaffre International SAS
- Strada Partners
- Getir B.V.
- 4 Healthy Pets NV (Edgard & Cooper)
- Euronav NV
- Virya Energy
Work highlights
- Advising on all intellectual property-related matters with respect to Euronav, a listed shipping company, acquiring 100% of the shares in CMB.Tech, from CMB, Euronav's controlling shareholder, for a purchase price of US$1.15 billion in cash.
- Advising Lesaffre, the key global player in fermentation and microorganisms for industrial food production, on all IP-related aspects in relation to its acquisition of FSM-Firmenich's yeast extract business.
- Advising Turkish-headquartered instant grocery delivery company Getir on its acquisition of FreshDirect, an online grocery delivery services based in New York, from Stop & Shop, which is owned by multinational grocery conglomerate, Ahold Delhaize.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Pieter Van Den Broecke