Koen De Winter
Biography
Koen De Winter is a senior counsel in Baker McKenzie’s Antwerp office. He practises in the areas of intellectual property, commercial law and dispute resolution. He has over 40 years of experience and is consistently recognised for his skills in Acritas, Legal 500, Chambers Europe, WIPR, Managing IP, WTR 1000 and Leader’s League.
He is an experienced civil and commercial litigator and has tried high-profile cases in all major courts in Belgium.
His IP practice encompasses all contentious and non-contentious aspects of intellectual property, including trademarks, copyrights, patents, designs, trade secrets and related issues.
He routinely works on the full array of commercial contracts, including licensing, distribution and agency agreements, supply agreements, advertising and fair trading.
Koen regularly lectures on IP, commercial law and dispute resolution topics.
Practice Focus
Koen advises and conducts litigation on the full spectrum of IP rights, trade secrets, advertising and unfair practices.
In addition, he has extensive experience in complex civil, commercial and corporate disputes, representing clients from a wide variety of industry sectors before the state courts and in arbitration.
Representative Legal Matters
- Represented a US-based RC car manufacturer in trademark and design infringement proceedings against a local distributor before the cease-and-desist court in Brussels.
- Acting for a core company of one of the main integrated meat suppliers in Europe with respect to a cross-border shareholder dispute involving both arbitration and state court proceedings.
- Defending a leading manufacturer of window coverings in a post-acquisition dispute involving legal, technical and financial issues, as well as multiple applicable laws and standards.
- Acting for a Dutch supplier in an international arbitration related to a dispute in the framework of a construction agreement involving electrical and instrumentation works for the expansion of an existing refinery in the port of Antwerp.
- Defending a NYSE-listed, global mining and metals conglomerate against a claim from a French trader of carbon steel products, involving legal issues related to piercing the corporate veil and the binding effect of an arbitration clause to third parties, under Belgian law, international commercial law and Ukraine law.
- Representing a new Belgian venture against a claim initiated by a dental chain for the misappropriation of trade secrets.
- Defending a global provider of integrated railway solutions in a trade secrets and unfair competition litigation brought against it before the Brussels cease-and-desist court by a Spanish manufacturer and supplier of railway monitoring equipment.
Professional Associations and Memberships
- International Trademark Association (INTA) - Member
- Benelux Association for Trademarks and Design Law (BMM) - Member
- Licensing Executive Society International (LESI) - Member
- Association of European Trademark Owners (MARQUES) - Member
- Alumni Association of the College of Europe - Member
Admissions
- Antwerp~Belgium (1981)
Education
- College of Europe, Bruges (Advanced European Studies, magna cum laude) (1980)
- University of Antwerp (Law Degree, magna cum laude) (1979)
Languages
- Dutch
- English
- French
- German