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Luxembourg: At-a-glance: Ministère de l'économie et du Commerce extérieur, Direction de la propriété intellectuelle 19-21 Boulevard Royal L-2449 Luxembourg Tel: +352 2478 2478, Fax: +352 460 448 Email: info@eco.public.lu Website: www.eco.public.lu Benelux:... [more]

Benelux: At-a-glance:
Trade mark office contact details
Benelux Trademarks Office, Bordewijklaan 15, NL-2591 XR Den Haag, Nederlands
Tel: +31 (0)70 349 11 11
Fax: +31 (0)70-347 57 08
Website: www.bmb-bbm.org

The past 12 months hasn't seen any significant change in the small Luxembourg market. However, as a result of recent tax initiatives, tax-oriented IP work is on the rise. "There's an increase in patenting activity due to new tax laws passed in 2009 and we're seeing the results now," one practitioner says. In other words, there was theoretical interest in the intervening period, but now, clients are starting to become more active. "The regime is up and running and this includes IP holding companies, but it's not just that," one partner says. "It's not just a mailbox address but real IP work."

Another aspect of the favourable tax regime means that there is more focus on research and development. Legislation granted broad incentives to research intellectual property and this has been of interest to start-up companies. "There was reform of publicly funded research and the government put it on the map," one lawyer says. "Luxembourg wants to be seen as having more presence in research." This is has been seen particularly in life sciences.

Patent litigation is not a huge sport in Luxembourg: the country and its economy are tiny and these facts discourage clients from using the jurisdiction for potential disputes. Should matters come to a head in a legal market of familiar faces, Allen & Overy and Decker Braun & Poos are sure to be involved. "I've been practising for 20 years and in the first 10 years, there were no patent cases," one partner says. "But the general interest for patents is rising because of increasing R&D."

With respect to trade marks, there has been a lot of non-contentious work of a contractual or advisory nature. In fact, a number of companies have decided to run all work out of Luxembourg. And there has been some trade mark litigation and small unfair competition cases.

Courts in Luxembourg are not specialised and this is problematic for practitioners. The case law is diverse and some judges "understand the issues and some don't," says one partner.

Finally, there have been some small developments in the legal market. Despite its small size, there is growing interest in IP and firms such as NautaDutilh and Baker & McKenzie are developing IP practices. "They do everything so they say they'll also do IP," one partner says. "So that's increasing competition."