Press, news & insights

We’re proud to share that De Clercq & Partners has been shortlisted for the Women in Business Law EMEA Awards 2026.
✨Belgium Firm of the Year
✨Patent – Lawyer of the Year: Liesbet Paemen

We are very pleased to announce the promotions of Tom Liessens, Kris Pappaert and David Lesthaeghe to full members of the partnership at De Clercq & Partners.

Through the years, each of them has consistently demonstrated exceptional talent, leadership and dedication. Their growth reflects not only personal achievement but also the strength of our team and the bright future ahead.

On 1 June 2026, the European Patent Organisation (EPO) will grow to 40 contracting states with the accession of the Republic of Moldova to the European Patent Convention (EPC). 

We are pleased to invite you to the De Clercq & Partners Annual IP Seminar, taking place on Friday 12 June 2026 at Auberge du Pêcheur in Sint-Martens-Latem.

This full-day seminar brings together leading practitioners and experts to discuss key developments and practical challenges in intellectual property law.

January 30 marked the deadline set by the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBoA) to file written statements regarding referral G1/25.  This deadline concerned the parties to the proceedings, third parties not taking part in the proceedings (also known as amicus curiae) and the President of the European Patent Office (EPO).  You can read the background information relating to the G1/25 referral in our article of August 5, 2025 here.

On February 2, 2026, the European Patent Office (EPO) published preview versions of its updated guidelines: 

• Guidelines for Examination under the European Patent Convention (EPC) (EPO Guidelines) 
• Guidelines for Search and Examination at the EPO as PCT Authority (PCT-EPO Guidelines) 
• Unitary Patent Guidelines (UP Guidelines). 

These editions will take effect on April 1, 2026. Simultaneously, the EPO opened its annual public consultation and will accept feedback until April 3, 2026. The SACEPO Working Party on Guidelines will review the contributions at its May 12, 2026  meeting and consider them for the 2027 revision cycle. 

Music is one of humanity’s greatest inventions and one of its most powerful means of expression. A fitting song can truly transform an experience, whether it is strolling around at a Christmas fair, enjoying a delicious meal in a restaurant, having the biggest dance party on your town’s square, or delivering the performance of your life at the Olympics. Music creates atmosphere, evokes emotion and forges collective memories. Yet behind this universal language lies a carefully structured legal framework designed to protect the creators who make such experiences possible. 

We are proud to announce that we have been shortlisted in multiple categories at the Managing IP EMEA Awards 2026.

Belgium – National Categories

• Prosecution
• Practitioner of the Year – Liesbet Paemen
• Rising Star of the Year – Tom Liessens

Benelux – Regional Categories

• Patent (Patent & Trademark Attorney Firms)

Europe – Regional Categories

• Patent Prosecution

Navigating the UPC focuses on analysing how the Unified Patent Court is shaping patent litigation in practice, combining litigation and patent expertise into contributions that aim to be genuinely useful. 

This new edition addresses a foundational issue in every UPC case: claim interpretation.

It analyses the EPO Enlarged Board’s decision in G 1/24, reviews the UPC Court of Appeal’s growing body of case law, and explains how similar legal foundations can lead to different interpretative instincts — with direct implications for both patent drafting and litigation strategy.

We would like to share with you Navigating the UPC, a new joint insight series developed under the Altius De Clercq initiative.

The ambition behind Altius De Clercq is to combine litigation and patent expertise into contributions that are not only visible, but genuinely useful. Navigating the UPC is part of that effort: a series focused on analysing how the Unified Patent Court is shaping patent litigation in practice.

The first contribution addresses a core issue in UPC infringement analysis: infringement by equivalence.