NautaDutilh — Intellectual property in Belgium
Legal 500 ranks NautaDutilh in Tier 1 for Belgium in Intellectual property. This page sums up what that tier establishes, what it does not, and what you still need to check.
Legal 500 ranking
The tier shown here comes from the Legal 500 “Intellectual property” table for Belgium. We reproduce it unmodified: we do not yet run practitioner interviews, so we produce no hierarchy of our own. Within a tier, Legal 500 does not rank firms against each other; the display order there is ours, by number of Belgian areas recognised.
Beyond this area, Legal 500 lists NautaDutilh in 13 Belgian practice areas: Banking, finance and capital markets, Commercial, corporate and M&A, Dispute resolution, EU regulatory: Financial services, Employment, Environment, Industry focus: Energy, Industry focus: Healthcare and life sciences, Insolvency and restructuring, Intellectual property, Private equity, Real estate and construction, Tax. Within the seven-area scope of this directory, the firm appears in 6.
- Tier
- Tier 1
- Source table
- Intellectual property
- Belgian areas recognised
- 13
What to check before instructing a firm in Intellectual property
Separate advisory from litigation
An excellent filing and portfolio firm is not necessarily a good advocate, and the reverse is true. If you need an infringement action or an invalidity defence, ask how many cases the team has argued before the Brussels enterprise court in the last three years, not how many trade marks it has filed.
Check the technical capacity on patents
A patent dispute is won on the technology first. Ask whether the firm works with named European patent attorneys, whether lawyers on the team have a scientific background, and how they organise the interface with your engineers. A team that cannot discuss the claims with your R&D will cost you time.
Ask about UPC practice
The Unified Patent Court has changed the landscape since 2023 and few Belgian firms have real case volume. If your patent is a European patent with unitary effect, or if you are considering a multi-country action, ask explicitly about representations before the UPC, in the Brussels local division or elsewhere.
Prepare for urgent measures
In IP, speed often decides the outcome. Saisie-description, cease-and-desist proceedings, interim measures: these are prepared before the emergency, not during it. A firm that explains how it assembles a saisie-description file in forty-eight hours is more useful than one that talks about its reputation.
Frequently asked questions
Is NautaDutilh a recognised Intellectual property firm in Belgium?
Yes. Legal 500 ranks NautaDutilh in Tier 1 for Belgium in its “Intellectual property” table, which feeds the Intellectual property area of this directory. That tier is Legal 500's, not ours: we reproduce it unmodified and we do not yet run our own interviews. It tells you the firm is recognised across a whole area; it does not tell you it is the right one for your matter, nor what it costs — we publish no rates and no verified client references.
Which other areas does NautaDutilh appear in?
NautaDutilh also appears in: Corporate & M&A, Employment, Dispute resolution, Life sciences, Real estate, construction & environment. A firm ranked in several areas can handle a matter that spans two, which is common — an acquisition that triggers an employment workstream, a dispute that touches intellectual property. Its tier may differ from one area to another.