Michel Segers

Partner

Practice Areas

Fashion & Design, Commercial Law, Corporate, Intellectual Property, Information Technology & Media, Consumer Goods, Food & Beverage

Languages

Dutch, French, English

Contact

Michel.Segers@mvvp.be

+32 2 285 01 00

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WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 82 [post_author] => 1 [post_date] => 2016-06-21 14:53:20 [post_date_gmt] => 2016-06-21 14:53:20 [post_content] => Philippe Laurent is practising IP / IT & commercial law at MVVP since 2003. He advises clients and litigates on Intellectual Property (copyrights, trademarks, designs, database rights, trade secrets, patents,...) and Information Technology law matters (data protection, privacy, online contracting, E-commerce, E-marketing, outsourcing, domain names...). He usually assists and represents businesses in the following sectors : software & apps development, system integration, IT consulting, SaaS & cloud solutions, data and services hosting, data mining & big data, video gaming & simulators, complex all-in-one solutions, web development, SEO, E-Learning platforms, IoT & connected devices, medical data platforms & devices, on-line advertisement & entertainment, online commerce and merchandise distribution sectors. He has built up a strong experience in Free/Open Source software, content, data and hardware licensing. Philippe's practice encompasses also a wide range of commercial law matters, including any forms of distribution (exclusive and non-exclusive distributorships, agencies, franchising agreements,...), promotion and advertisement of goods and services, trade practices and consumer protection compliance. He has founded “Legal ICT” (legalict.be), an initiative that offers legal training modules to ICT and Innovation-driven businesses and organisations. He is also regularly appointed by CEPANI as Third-Party Decider for ".be" domain name disputes. He has formerly been Senior Researcher at the CRIDS (Research Centre – Information, Law & Society of the University of Namur) where he studied during 10 years the legal aspects of intellectual property licensing, data and software protection, open source schemes, cloud computing and the governance of the Internet. He has written several expert studies for the European Commission and the European Parliament on the legal aspects of open source and interoperability information licensing. He has also been an alternate member of the copyrights and neighbouring rights section of the Intellectual Property Council of the Belgian Ministry of Economy. He regularly participates in conferences and has published many contributions and articles in books and law reviews. He speaks French, English and Spanish, and has a working proficency of Dutch. [post_title] => Philippe Laurent [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => philippe-laurent [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2025-05-20 14:53:01 [post_modified_gmt] => 2025-05-20 14:53:01 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://www01.systray.be/mvvp.be/?post_type=lawyers&p=82 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => lawyers [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) 1
Philippe Laurent
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Michel provides assistance to companies in Belgium, covering a wide range of commercial and corporate matters. His expertise includes contract and commercial law, cross-border complex litigation involving international parties, and corporate work across various sectors, with a particular emphasis on the retail industry. Holding an LLM in intellectual property, Michel advises and defends clients in trademark and copyright disputes.

As a native of Brussels, Michel is fluent in both Dutch and French, allowing him to effectively represent Belgian companies and directors in negotiations and litigation in both national languages across whole Belgium.

He possesses a profound understanding of the retail industry and is one of the four national experts appointed by the Ministry of Economy of Belgium. In this capacity, he advises the government on legislative needs, market trends, and addressing unfair practices in a B2B context. Michel offers strategic advice to retailers on their platform and e-commerce strategies and drafts various types of contracts, including franchise, agency, and distribution agreements.

He assists clients in the transfer of (multiple) retail outlets, whether through share or asset transfers. Additionally, Michel represents principals (franchisors) and distributors (agents, franchisees) in international contractual disputes, utilizing frameworks such as Brussels Ibis, Rome I, and the New York Convention on arbitration.

Beyond his bilingual proficiency in Dutch and French, Michel is also fluent in English and German, having studied at Humboldt University in Berlin. He possesses a basic knowledge of Spanish, further enhancing his ability to assist a diverse clientele.