Benelux

Firm overview

Marks & Clerk is one of the UK’s largest, and longest established, intellectual property firms. Our expert teams of patent and trade mark attorneys and lawyers are wired directly into the UK’s innovation economies via our offices in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. Alongside our presence in the UK, we also have offices in nine international locations covering the EU, Canada and Asia, meaning we can tap into local expertise, globally. 

Our team provides a full-service IP offering, from the initial filing of IP, through to litigation and commercial exploitation. Having seen the benefits that our clients derive from our full-service model, a number of patent attorney firms have since sought to follow a similar approach by adding solicitors to their teams. However, our well-established and highly regarded litigation and commercial transactions practices continue to set us apart from other firms.

We are experts not only in intellectual property law, but also in the science and technology that underpins our clients’ businesses. Our ability to draw upon this specialist technical expertise, not just in the context of patent prosecution but also in the context of litigation and commercial transactions, enables us to provide clients with a level of service and reach unmatched by other firms.

Firm overview

GEVERS is market leader in Belgium for intellectual property and one of the leading IP offices in France. In both France and Belgium, GEVERS is recognised by peers for its capabilities in patent services. Collaborating with GEVERS is to choose more than 125 years of experience in patents, trademarks, designs and much more.

As an IP service provider GEVERS is committed to being its clients’ privileged partner for the identification, protection, management, exploitation and enforcement of IP rights throughout the full lifecycle of our clients’ assets.

GEVERS provides best-in-class IP services totally aligned with its clients' business strategy, including specialised services such as contracting, valuation, valorization and dispute resolution.

Adding value to clients' ideas through quality, security, innovation and excellence is what GEVERS stands for.

With more than 250 professionals at the GEVERS Group, representing more than 10 native languages including all official languages of the European offices, GEVERS is a one-stop IP firm with expertise and practical experience in different domains and sectors: from aeronautics, watch making, information and communications technology, industrial chemistry, physics, electronics, automotive, pharmaceutical, energy, mechanics and biotechnology to fast-moving consumer goods, the entertainment sector, agriculture and nanotechnology.

Whatever IP needs you may have in Europe, GEVERS provides services suited to your expectations, at both the regional and national level.

GEVERS offices are located in the heart of Europe, with 75% of the EU market within 500km of a GEVERS office. This allows GEVERS professionals to travel to any location in Europe according to clients' needs.

GEVERS acts before multiple national IP offices in Europe, including the EPO and the EU Intellectual Property Office.

Its locally qualified patent attorneys file national patent applications in Belgium, France and the Netherlands. GEVERS professionals validate granted European patents directly at the national patent offices of Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Monaco, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the Netherlands. Further, using the centralised location of GEVERS in Europe and its broad European network, GEVERS can validate your granted patents in all other member states of the European Patent Convention. Experienced GEVERS opposition attorneys can oppose granted European patents before the EPO.

Firm overview

Working with IP-rich businesses, we protect, scale, and defend ideas with a holistic IP offering.
Whether it's patent, copyright, or trademark protection, or serving as lead trial counsel in all-or-nothing cases, we are ready to tackle any IP issue head-on.

Our Intellectual Property Practice is one of the largest and most active in the world—combining a market-leading U.S. IP litigation capability with one of Europe’s most highly regarded IP teams, creating a genuinely integrated transatlantic practice spanning patents, trademarks, copyrights, designs, brand, advertising, and trade secrets across the U.S., U.K., Europe, the Middle East, and beyond.

We offer a multidimensional IP service—featuring litigation, prosecution, and transactional and strategic counsel—enabling you to develop a coherent, globally coordinated IP strategy managed from a single platform. We are particularly active in life sciences, technology, semiconductors, media and entertainment, and luxury goods.

A single trusted IP partner. For every issue. Across your entire portfolio.

Firm overview

History
In 1966, Ernest T. Freylinger laid the foundations of our present industrial property consulting office in Luxembourg.

With the help of his wife who wrote letters on a typewriter, Ernest T. Freylinger prospected in Luxembourg and all around the world trying to convince many companies about the importance of protecting their intellectual assets.

Over the following years, Ernest T. Freylinger managed to gain the confidence of important clients in Luxembourg and created business partnerships with other IP offices, mainly in Luxembourg and in Belgium.

These collaborations allowed the office to expand its services on an international basis. Office Freylinger has continued to grow and now relies on a wide range of national and international clients, from the corner shopkeeper up to the multinational company.

At the turn of the century, the rejuvenation of the staff, new openings in the fields of industrial property as well as a constant improvement and variety of the provided services have contributed to place Office Freylinger as the main and largest Luxembourg IP Office.

Values
We assist our clients in developing adequate Intellectual Property strategies to help them in acquiring and expanding strong market positions.

Our core values are: SECURITY, PLEASURE and CREATIVITY.

We provide tailor-made services to vigorously protect our client’s rights and interests. We strongly rely on our highly qualified and motivated IP attorneys and paralegals to provide high quality work for our clients.

Quality
Having been involved in numerous opposition/appeal proceedings and infringement cases, we know how important it is to carefully draft and amend intellectual property right applications during their prosecution.

Our philosophy is that IP rights are commercial tools, which must be able to furnish a return on investment. This return on investment can be achieved by capitalising on a monopoly, by giving licences to competitors and/or by enforcing patent rights against infringers. All these actions are only possible if the rights are carefully drafted.

Quality control
Having numerous direct clients requiring our services, the quality of our services is one of our most important assets. Quality generates trust from our clients and trust is the most essential requirement in our profession.

Confidentiality
Each employee is bound by the provisions of the Luxembourg law and has a strict confidentiality clause in his or her employment contract. The fact that the confidentiality of our work and of the information given to us by our clients is a crucial factor is regularly reminded to the team.

Optimizing expenses
Optimizing expenses is a permanent concern. Therefore, as from the early beginnings of our work, we keep a close eye on expenses affecting our clients.

Our ability to directly act before many national Patent and Trademark offices in Europe allows us to minimise the costs to the client for numerous actions performed before these offices.

For providing services in the rest of the World, we rely on a broad network of confirmed foreign associates, which are respected members of the various professional organisations. Our clients benefit from our transparency in cost matters as well as from our reasonable rates.