Philippe Laurent

Philippe Laurent is lawyer at the Brussels Bar (Marx, Van Ranst, Vermeersch & Partners) and senior researcher at the CRID (Research Centre on IT and Law of the University of Namur), where he specializes in Free/ Libre/ Open Source licensing since 2003.

As a researcher, Philippe is currently doing a PhD on Intellectual Property licensing, and works in the framework of the CELLaVI initiative (open source project financed by the Walloon Region). He has written several publications on the legal implications of free software and open content practices. Amongst others, he co-authored the first book providing a global legal analysis of open source licensing under Belgian law called “Les logiciels libres face au droit” (Bruxelles, Bruylant, 2005, 328p). He is part of the experts’ team that assists the European Commission on the legal aspects of its open source licence – the EUPL – and has written several reports thereon. In order to promote awareness of legal issues pertaining to free and open source software (FOSS) and the development of best practices in the field, Philippe co-organises with Benjamin Jean (Linagora) the EOLE event, a yearly international conference on FOSS law.

As an attorney-at-law, Philippe advises businesses from the software industry and from the new technologies and Internet-based services sectors, including FOSS developers and users. He is specialised in intellectual property law (copyright, trade marks, patents), but his practice also involves a wide range of commerce related matters, including distribution agreements (distributionship, agency, franchise, commercial partnership), trade practices, advertisement, branding and marketing of goods and services, domain name disputes, consumer protection, data protection compliance, product liability and security… He has acquired a good expertise in commercial and private law litigations.

Philippe has also been appointed by the CEPANI as Third-Party Decider for “.be” domain name disputes.