Geert Glas
Senior IP Counsel
Brussels
Geert Glas
Senior IP Counsel
Brussels
Contact Details
Geert is widely regarded as one of the top intellectual property (IP) lawyers in Belgium. He conducts litigation, advises on non-litigious matters and assists in negotiating and drafting agreements and transactions in a broad range of sectors, including technology, media, life sciences and consumer goods.
Geert has more than 30 years of experience in IP litigation before the European, Benelux and Belgian courts, including some landmark cases. He also acts as arbitrator in various IP matters on appointment by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and CEPANI, the Belgian arbitration institute.
From 2009 until 2017, Geert was the chairman of the Benelux Council for Intellectual Property (BCIP), which advises the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP) on all aspects of IP legislation. He is also former chairman of the Benelux Association for Trademark and Design Law (BMM) and a former member of the Board of Directors of the International Trademark Association (INTA). He is currently a member of INTA's Europe Global Advisory Council.
Geert is a thought leader on IP issues and his views are often sought by Reuters, Bloomberg, the FT and the WSJ. He teaches on intellectual property at the Vlerick Business School. For more than 20 years, Geert has been ranked as market-leading individual in the area of IP by various independent legal directories such as Chambers, Legal 500, WTR 1000 and Managing IP.
Qualifications
Professional
Admitted as Exempt European lawyer (England and Wales), 2004
Admitted as “advocaat” (Belgium), 1990
Academic
LLM, University of Illinois, 1985
Law Degree, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL), 1984
Related articles
Blog Post: 08 March 2023
Tine Carmeliet, Juno Hautekiet and Geert Glas discuss how early-stage life sciences companies can survive the so-called “valley of death”. This is the funding gap between making a promising scientific…
News: 18 July 2022
News: 17 June 2022
Allen & Overy Lawyers named 2022 Managing Intellectual Property IP Stars
Experience highlights
Advising a multinational pharmaceutical company on preliminary injunctions with respect to the patents covering one of its medicines.
Advising Intel on litigation relating to its flagship INTEL and INTEL INSIDE trademarks.
Advising Nikon on its European anti-counterfeit strategy, coordinating its customs surveillance in all European jurisdictions.
Qualifications
Professional
Admitted as Exempt European lawyer (England and Wales), 2004
Admitted as “advocaat” (Belgium), 1990
Academic
LLM, University of Illinois, 1985
Law Degree, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL), 1984
Pro-bono experience
Voting member of the General Assembly of ASF, Avocats sans Frontières asbl/vzw
Recognition
The right person if you have a difficult case.
Chambers 2018
One of the best all-round IP lawyers in the country.
World Trademark Review 1000, 2017
Smart, creative, humble and very easy to work with.
Chambers, 2017
Published work
Glas G. and Carmeliet T., “The European Court to rule on milestone in European GMO legislation: the legal classification of mutagenesis in plant breeding”, Bio-Science Law Review, June 2017.
Glas G. and Suffys C., “Van een grafische voorstelling naar een nauwkeurige voorstelling – een herdefiniëring van de registreerbaarheid van niet-traditionele merken”, Intellectuele Rechten – Droits Intellectuels, 2016-1.
Glas G. several articles on telecom, media, trademark and patent law and scientific contributions.
Glas G. Observational column in “Droits Intellectuels-Intellectuele Rechten (IRDI)”.
Glas G. “Famous and Well-Known Trademarks and the Internet”, contribution in “Famous and Well-Known Marks” (Frederick Mostert ed.), 2004, INTA.
