Procedural aspects of protecting IPR in Belgium

IPR owners in Belgium have the following
procedural rights in respect of infringers:

1. A delivery-up procedure meaning certain IPR
owners can obtain a court order and thereby
enter an infringer’s premises (or those of a
connected third party) unannounced and seize
any instruments or documents that could
establish the alleged infringement. To obtain
such right, the rights holder files a petition at
the court where the relevant premises are
located. A ruling will be made within eight
days at which the petitioner does not have to
be present but may have to deposit a
guarantee. Any order can be appealed or
opposed but otherwise must be acted upon
within a month.

2. A summary procedure may be invoked, if
urgency can be established, and the rights
holder can quickly obtain sequestrations,
reports or assessments that estimate damage
and any other measures deemed necessary for
the safeguarding of rights. Summary
procedure petitions do not prejudice the main
case and are brought by a summons which
typically takes two days, or longer if the
respondent is not based in Belgium. In
extreme cases, however, the court will deal
with a summons virtually immediately, even on
a public holiday and will abrogate any other
procedural timings.

3. A customs procedure is also available permitting
customs authorities, at the request of the rights
holder, to suspend temporarily the passing
through customs of any products suspected to
be infringing goods, to allow the rights holder to
establish infringement via the courts.

4. Finally, rights holders can use any infringement
proceedings designated by specific legislation
relating to the particular IPR in question, for
example:
• in respect of copyright infringements, an
occurrence report and a suspension of any
infringing activities can be obtained;
• to protect trade marks, a rights holder can
take actions for: the transfer of ill-gotten
gains and for the taking of accounts;
ownership of the infringing goods and the
instruments used to produce them;
destruction of the infringing goods; and
information concerning the identity of any
third parties involved;
• drawings and models can be protected by
petitioning the Belgian Commercial Court
to order the suspension of infringing acts,
the seizure of infringing products and any
other sanction indicated under Belgian law;
• patent infringement proceedings can be
brought, even where a contravening party
has acted in good faith. Following the
aggrieved party’s petition, the court can
order: the suspension of any infringing acts;
damages; publication of the judgement; and
the confiscation of any objects made in
infringement of the patent and any
instruments especially intended for their
manufacture.