Home / People / Tom Heremans

Tom Heremans

Partner

Tom Heremans

Tom Heremans

Partner

T +32 2 743 69 73
F +32 2 743 69 01
CMS DeBacker
Chaussée de La Hulpe 178
1170 Brussels
Belgium
Languages German, English, French, Dutch

Tom specialises in copyright, trademark and patent law, advertising and marketing, Internet and electronic commerce, media and technology, privacy, distribution law and commercial litigation. His clients include major food stuff manufacturers, domain name registries, retrailers, e- commerce companies and international football organisations.

more less

"Described by peers as a 'very brilliant lawyer', Tom Heremans specialises in advertising, e-commerce, privacy and IP. He acted for M7 Group in EUR1.5 million litigation against the collecting societies that were claiming royalties for the alleged retransmission of broadcasting signals."

Chambers Europe, 2017

"Tom Heremans is a well-regarded lawyer whom sources consider "a real specialist." He acts on IP matters related to distribution and franchising as well as on contentious trade mark, copyright and patent mandates. Work highlights include assisting UEFA with the full gamut of trade mark issues related to the EURO 2016 football tournament."

Chambers Europe, 2017

"[IP] Practice head Tom Heremans is valued for his ‘hands-on approach’"

Legal 500, 2017

"Described by peers as a 'very brilliant lawyer', Tom Heremans specialises in advertising, e-commerce, privacy and IP. He acted for M7 Group in EUR1.5 million litigation against the collecting societies that were claiming royalties for the alleged retransmission of broadcasting signals."

Chambers Europe, 2017

"Tom Heremans is a well-regarded lawyer whom sources consider "a real specialist." He acts on IP matters related to distribution and franchising as well as on contentious trade mark, copyright and patent mandates. Work highlights include assisting UEFA with the full gamut of trade mark issues related to the EURO 2016 football tournament."

Chambers Europe, 2017

"[IP] Practice head Tom Heremans is valued for his ‘hands-on approach’"

Legal 500, 2017

Relevant experience

  • Conducting domain name disputes as accredited “.eu” or “.be” panellist or acting as plaintiff or defendant for national and international clients
  • Proceedings before the Court of Justice of EU with regard to copyright and related rights in a case regarding satellite broadcasting (Airfield)
  • Represented a printing company before the Belgian Supreme Court regarding the alleged counterfeit of software
  • Providing advice to national and international companies regarding sales promotions and comparative advertising
  • Advising sports associations on unauthorised broadcasting of football games and on piracy and customs matters
  • Representing multinationals in trade mark disputes (e.g. injunctive relief proceedings, counterfeit seizures, custom seizures, claims for damages, …)
  • Assisted an international food stuffs manufacturer in a dispute regarding design protection of a food product
  • Conducted patent litigation for an international transport company in relation to an invention of a particular tram system
more less

Education

  • 1991 - Vrije Universiteit Brussel, VUB (Law Degree)
  • 1991 - Bar admission (Brussels, Belgium)
  • 1993 - Université Libre de Bruxelles, ULB (Postgraduate in Business Law)
  • 1998 - University of California, Los Angeles (LL.M., 1998)
more less

Memberships

  • Lecturer at the EHSAL Management School and Odisee (KULeuven) on the legal aspects of marketing and of social media
  • Member of the Council for the Intellectual Property
  • Former president of the Benelux Trade Mark Association B.M.M.
  • Winner of the Wim Mak Award in 2006 of the Benelux Trade Mark Association
  • Member of the International Trademark Association (INTA)
  • Member of the Belgian Copyright Law Association
more less

Publications

  • « Marketing, intellectuele rechten en sociale media » (with L. Depypere) in Sociale Media anno 2015 - Actuele juridische aspecten, E. LIEVENS, E. WAUTERS & P. VALCKE (ed.), Antwerpen, Intersentia, 2015, 1-38.
  • « Le nouveau Code de Droit Économique va-t-il enfin abroger la loi de 1961 relative aux concessions de vente ? » (with L. Depypere) in R. Dupont (éd.) «Retail – Aperçu juridique - Hommage André Lombart », Larcier 2014, p. 143-168
  • « 101 marketingvragen juridisch beantwoord », Intersentia, 2018, 232 p.
  • « De Whois databank van domeinnaamhouders : enkele beschouwingen », in Les noms de domaine.be/.be domeinnamen, CEPANI, Bruylant, 2012
  • « De nieuwe wet marktpraktijken en consumentenbescherming : volledig overzicht van oud en nieuw – La nouvelle loi relative aux pratiques du marché et à la protection du consommateur »: tout sur l’ancien et le nouveau régime » , Larcier, 2010, 306 pages
  • « Domeinnamen: een juridische analyse van een nieuw onderscheidingsteken », Brussels, Larcier, 2003, book about the legal status of domain names, 228 pages
  • « Internetadvertenties en trefwoorden : het Hof van Justitie over Google AdWords », (with L. Bieseman), BMM Bulletin, 2011, p. 2-16
  • « Sports Image Rights in Belgium », co-author with T. De Jong, P, I.S. Blackshaw and C.R. Siemann, Asser Institute, 2005
  • « Alternatieve geschillenbeslechting in het .eu domein: een overzicht van de procedure en de eerste uitspraken », Bull. B.M.M. 2006, liv. 3, p. 110-117
  • « Onenigheid in de rechtspraak over de bevoegdheid inzake het Gemeenschapsmerk en over metatags als reclame-uiting », Annuaire Pratique du Commerce & Concurrence 2007, p. 133
more less

Expertise

September 2018
101 mar­ket­ingv­ragen jur­idisch beant­woord (derde edit­ie)
#
Publication
December 2017
Mis­lead­ing rep­res­ent­a­tions of new "de­sign­er food"
#
Guide

Feed

Show only
15 May 20
We­bin­ar re­cord­ings - Cov­id-19 (Coronavir­us) in Bel­gi­um
#
Publication Coronavirus (COVID-19)
24 Apr 20
Trade­marks, pub­lic policy and prin­ciples of mor­al­ity in the time of...
Dur­ing this un­cer­tain corona peri­od, it was in­ev­it­able that someone would have the idea of re­gis­ter­ing “COV­ID-19”, “CORONAVIR­US” or vari­ants as a trade­mark. But can such trade­marks be con­sidered...
#
Law-Now Intellectual Property
20/11/2019
CMS wins Trends Leg­al Award for "Best Bel­gian Law Firm...
#
News TMC - Technology, Media & Communications
05 Mar 20
Coronavir­us and force ma­jeure in com­mer­cial con­tracts
Many com­pan­ies are suf­fer­ing from the out­break of the coronavir­us through the dis­rup­tion of their nor­mal busi­ness activ­it­ies. This dis­rup­tion is of­ten caused by either a com­pany’s in­ab­il­ity to per­form...
#
Law-Now Coronavirus (COVID-19)
02/04/2019
European Uni­on Trade Mark Reg­u­la­tion and Com­munity...
A Com­ment­ary
#
Publication Intellectual Property
26 Nov 19
Cri­ti­ciz­ing your com­pet­it­or on its blog could cost you EUR 1,500!
Re­cently, the An­t­werp En­ter­prise Court had to de­cide wheth­er a Dutch un­der­tak­ing was li­able for cri­ti­ciz­ing a Bel­gian com­pet­it­or on that com­pet­it­or’s own blog. The court held the Dutch un­der­tak­ing li­able...
#
Law-Now Intellectual Property
30/11/2018
Novem­ber 2018 News­let­ter
#
Newsletter Banking & Finance
27 Apr 20
CMS We­bin­ar Series - Cov­id-19 (Coronavir­us) in Bel­gi­um...
#
Event Coronavirus (COVID-19)
26 Jun 19
EU Reg­u­la­tion on on­line plat­forms ap­proved
On 14 June 2019, the Coun­cil of the European Uni­on ap­proved the new Reg­u­la­tion on pro­mot­ing fair­ness and trans­par­ency of on­line plat­forms. The new Reg­u­la­tion will enter in­to ef­fect in sum­mer 2021, without...
#
Law-Now TMC - Technology, Media & Communications
Load more articles