The Legal 500

Luxembourg > IP and IT

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Allen & Overy Luxembourg provides ‘very useful and accurate IP and IT advice’ to a broad range of clients. ‘One of the leading experts in IP law in Luxembourg’, Katia Manhaeve has ‘deep insight in IP litigation and has excellent contacts with government officials in the IP field in Luxembourg and Benelux’. Increasingly active in the pharmaceuticals industry, Manhaeve is currently advising an international pharmaceuticals company in relation to a drug lifecycle management project. Cyril Pierre-Beausse is ‘excellent on data protection issues’ and heads the IT group.

Arendt & Medernach is very well regarded for IP litigation and also has significant capability within the IT arena. Recent litigation highlights include representing a car manufacturer in a trade mark dispute. On the non-contentious side, the firm often handles the IP elements related to M&A transactions, and also licensing work. Héloïse Bock heads the team and handles a broad spectrum of IP and IT matters.

While it lacks a significant IT practice, Decker, Braun and Poos is ‘one of the best around for IP matters’. Founding partner Nicholas Decker is ‘a very competent IP expert and provides excellent advice’.

IP and IT matters remain central to LG@vocats’ workflow, even though it has diversified into other practice areas. The firm is very strong within the telecoms and media sectors and handles software licensing agreements and outsourcing, as well as the exploitation and protection of IP rights. Firm founder Stéphan Le Goueff is well regarded for telecoms law and technology transactions, and Hervé Wolff is recognised as one to watch.

MNKS (formerly Noble & Scheidecker)’s ‘responsive and very personable’ team has ‘great knowledge within the sector’ and handles a predominantly non-contentious workload across a broad spectrum of IP and IT matters for a raft of leading international clients. Recent work includes advising a major international beverages company restructuring on its IP portfolio, and providing data protection compliance work for a number of major companies. ‘Very professional and precise team head Gary Cywie is particularly praised for his ‘excellence at handling IT matters’.

Bonn Steichen & Partners has media law, IP and IT capability. The firm is involved in advertising, data protection and privacy law work for foreign companies, and also handles non-contentious and contentious trade mark and copyright work.

Kleyr | Grasso | Associes handles the IP issues associated with M&A transactions. IT and media clients include Play.com and Setanta Sports.

Frequently working with other offices in the firm’s vast network, Linklaters LLP’s Luxembourg team specialises in handling complex and multi-jurisdictional IP/TMT-related projects. It is particularly strong at handling the IT and IP issues associated with major transactions, and advised Ypso France on the relevant telecoms regulatory issues associated with the €360m sale of its shares in Numericable Belgium and Numericable Luxembourg. Managing associate Olivier Reisch has a good reputation for handling data protection matters.

The ‘extremely responsive’ team at Molitor Avocats à la Cour provides ‘timely and efficient’ advice to clients across a range of IP and IT issues. The team is representing a major supermarket chain in copyright litigation before the Luxembourg courts. Laurent Fisch has an excellent reputation, while senior associate Claire Léonelli provides ‘quality advice’ and handles a myriad contentious and non-contentious issues, including the registration and protection of rights and outsourcing projects.

DCL Avocats provides ‘a very responsive and efficient service’ to clients across a range of IT and IP issues. Dorothée Ciolino is praised for her ‘expertise in IT law and new technologies’.

DSM Di Stefano Moyse Avocats à la Cour handles IP disputes as part of its litigation offering.

Although the firm does not have a dedicated IP and IT practice, Elvinger, Hoss & Prussen handles such work out of its corporate and commercial, banking and finance, and litigation departments.

Thewes & Reuter’s Marc Thewes handles IP work as part of his general litigation expertise.

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Legal Developments in Luxembourg

Legal Developments and updates from the leading lawyers in each jurisdiction. To contribute, send an email request to
  • Towards a stronger enforcement of competition law in Luxembourg from 1 February 2012

    Seeking to improve the efficiency of its Competition authority, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg adopted last 23 October 2011 a new competition law.
  • Luxembourg Alternative Investment Funds

    Asset Classes - Hedge; Real Estate; Private Equity; Venture; Mezzanine; Infrastructure
  • New Germany - Luxembourg double tax treaty signed

    On 23 April 2012, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the Federal Republic of Germany signed a new double tax treaty (the "New Treaty") which will replace the double tax treaty currently in force dated 23 August 1958. The New Treaty basically follows the provisions of the OECD Model Tax Convention, but certain specific provisions have been added.
  • Tax Update April 2012

    Our April tax update highlights the latest important changes in Luxembourg tax law, including the enactment of the law relaxing the conditions to be met in order to benefit from the SPF tax status. Other topics include inter alia recent case law on the exemption of income deriving from the sale of preferential subscription rights and the first decisions of the Luxembourg administrative courts relating to the exchange of information upon request based on the law of 31 March 2010.
  • European Commission publishes AIFMD level 2 implementation proposals

    The European Commission’s proposals for level 2 implementation measures for the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive has been circulated to European Union member states and to the European Parliament. The Commission’s draft has prompted criticism from hedge fund managers quoted in media reports and from a hedge fund industry body, the Alternative Investment Management Association, that in certain areas its proposals differ significantly from those put forward by the European Securities and Markets Authority (Esma) in its advice delivered to the Commission on November 16.
  • Luxembourg’s amended SIF law comes into force

    Luxembourg’s legislation amending the February 2007 law on Specialised Investment Funds came into force on April 1, following publication in the country’s official gazette, the Mémorial, on March 30. It is now identified as the law of March 26, 2012, the date on which it received royal assent.
  • ESMA refines proposed framework to deal with complexity of ETFs and other Ucits

    The European Securities and Markets Authority has published on January 30 a consultation paper proposing future guidelines for exchange-traded funds established as Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities and other issues related to the Ucits regime. The Esma proposals cover both physical ETFs, which replicate the performance of stock, bond, commodity, currency or other indices by holding shares or other securities in the proportions that make up the index in question, or a sample thereof, and synthetic ETFs, which use swap transactions to obtain the economic performance of the index, using a basket of securities as collateral.
  • Publication of the new law on SIFs

    The law of 26 March 2012 amending the law of 13 February 2007 relating to specialised investment funds (“SIFs”) was published today in the Mémorial A-063 and will enter into force on 1 April 2012. 
  • ACCOUNTING ASPECTS

    I. Law of 10 December 2010 relating to the introduction of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) II. Grand-Ducal Regulation of 14 December 2011 relating to the procedure for filing financial information electronically with the Luxembourg Trade and Companies Register
  • ESMA launches discussion paper on AIFMD technical standards

    The European Securities and Markets Authority has published on February 23 a discussion paper on key concepts of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive and types of alternative fund manager to initiate a consultation process aimed at finalising its policy approach.

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