Infringement Analysis in Ghent.

A patent infringement analysis Ghent rights-holders can rely on has to be built for the way Belgium actually proves infringement — through the court-ordered descriptive seizure rather than US-style discovery, and before a single specialist court in Brussels that hears the country’s entire patent docket. Ghent anchors one of Europe’s densest biotech clusters — VIB, Ghent University, the Ablynx nanobody heritage and Argenx at Zwijnaarde — alongside the ArcelorMittal steel, chemicals and materials of the North Sea Port canal zone. PerspireIP builds the element-by-element claim charts and dated evidence-of-use that a Belgian judge, a UPC panel and a court expert can adopt.

Where a patent infringement analysis Ghent case is heard

Belgium does not spread patent litigation across its local courts. Since a reform that took effect on 1 January 2015, Article XI.337 of the Code of Economic Law confers on a single forum — the Brussels Enterprise Court (Ondernemingsrechtbank Brussel / Tribunal de l’entreprise de Bruxelles) — exclusive national jurisdiction over patent infringement and validity actions, covering Belgian patents and the Belgian part of European patents. A Ghent biotech company, chemical manufacturer or steelmaker therefore litigates its patents in Brussels, not in a court in Ghent or Flanders.

The seat is composed of legal judges only — no technical judges and no jury — and appeals run to the Brussels Court of Appeal (Hof van Beroep Brussel / Cour d’appel de Bruxelles). That concentration is strategic, not geographic. Because a single bench sees the entire Belgian patent docket, and because a validity counterattack can be raised in the same proceedings, an infringement analysis prepared for a Ghent patentee has to anticipate the invalidity challenge from the outset and rest on an evidence file the court can independently verify.

• Brussels Enterprise Court — exclusive national jurisdiction over Belgian patent infringement and validity actions since 1 January 2015 under Article XI.337 of the Code of Economic Law
• Legal judges only — the patent seat is staffed by professional judges, with no technical judges and no jury
• Appeal route — judgments are reviewed by the Brussels Court of Appeal (Hof van Beroep Brussel / Cour d’appel de Bruxelles)
• No Ghent forum — despite the city’s research weight, no patent case is tried in Ghent itself; the analysis must be built for Brussels

The saisie-contrefaçon: how Belgium proves infringement

Belgium has no US-style pre-trial discovery. Its answer is the descriptive seizure — the saisie-contrefaçon, or beslag inzake namaak — governed by Articles 1369bis/1 to 1369bis/10 of the Belgian Judicial Code. On an ex-parte request, the President of the competent court can appoint an independent court expert who describes, at the alleged infringer’s premises, the products, processes, documents and materials that reveal the suspected infringement, its origin and its extent. A bailiff assists and records the operation, and where justified the court can order an actual seizure alongside the description.

For Ghent’s biotech and chemistry companies this is decisive. Infringement of a nanobody sequence claim, a fermentation or cell-line process, a catalyst formulation or a metallurgical treatment is rarely visible from the outside; it lives in sequences, recipes, process parameters, batch records and analytical data. The descriptive seizure is the mechanism that puts those facts on the record before trial — a first bailiff report typically follows within around two weeks and the expert’s fuller report within roughly two months — but only if the underlying claim mapping is convincing enough to persuade the President to grant the measure and survive a proportionality check.

• Descriptive seizure / saisie-contrefaçon / beslag inzake namaak — an ex-parte, court-ordered measure to document infringement, under Articles 1369bis/1–1369bis/10 of the Judicial Code
• Court expert leads, bailiff assists — a court-appointed expert carries out the description; the bailiff records it and can execute an accompanying seizure
• Nationwide reach — the description can be carried out at the alleged infringer’s premises and elsewhere across Belgian territory
• Timed reports — a first report within roughly two weeks and a fuller expert report within about two months feed straight into the merits case

This is why a patent infringement analysis Ghent parties commission cannot stop at a tidy conclusion. It has to justify the seizure to the President, predict what the expert will bring back, and be written so that the material recovered maps cleanly onto every claim limitation.

Belgium in the UPC: the Brussels Local Division

Belgium is a founding member of the Unified Patent Court (UPC), live since 1 June 2023, and hosts the Brussels Local Division. For a European patent that has not been opted out, a second, pan-European route runs alongside the national Belgian one: a UPC judgment reaches across every participating member state at once, which changes the calculus for a Ghent patentee weighing a purely Belgian action against a continent-wide injunction covering the single market its exports serve.

The Brussels Local Division can conduct proceedings in Dutch, French, German or English. A local wrinkle matters for Ghent: where the alleged infringement is limited to Belgium and the defendant is domiciled in Flanders, the language of proceedings is Dutch. The strategic fork is the opt-out under Article 83 UPCA: during the transitional period a proprietor can withdraw a classic European patent from the UPC’s jurisdiction, keeping enforcement in the national Brussels court alone; leaving it in play opens the UPC route but exposes the patent to a single central revocation. Appeals from the Local Division are heard by the UPC Court of Appeal in Luxembourg.

• National route — the Brussels Enterprise Court for Belgian patents and validated European patents kept out of the UPC
• UPC route — infringement and revocation of non-opted-out European patents and unitary patents before the Brussels Local Division, with pan-European effect and appeal to Luxembourg
• Flanders language rule — where infringement is limited to Belgium and the defendant is domiciled in Flanders, proceedings run in Dutch
• Opt-out choice (Art. 83) — keeping a European patent in or out of the UPC shapes the forum, the reach of any injunction and the exposure to central revocation

Ghent’s docket: nanobodies, biotech, chemicals and steel

Ghent’s patent docket is written by its life-science economy, one of the most productive translational biotech ecosystems in Europe. The anchor is the research base of the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) and Ghent University (UGent), and the nanobody (single-domain antibody, VHH) lineage that produced Ablynx — acquired by Sanofi for €3.9 billion in 2018, and the source of the first nanobody drug, caplacizumab — and Argenx, now scaling toward some 1,400 staff at its Zwijnaarde Science Park headquarters. Sequence, antibody-engineering, formulation and process claims sit at the heart of this docket, proven from sequences, cell lines, assay behaviour and manufacturing data.

Around the biotech core sits a broader industrial base. The North Sea Port canal zone concentrates chemicals, materials and heavy industry, led by the ArcelorMittal Ghent steel plant with its carbon-capture and decarbonisation programmes. Plant and industrial biotech, green chemistry and advanced-materials spin-outs from UGent and VIB add further claim-mapping demands. Each field is proven differently — a steel or catalyst claim from metallurgical and process analysis, a chemical claim from composition and reaction data, a nanobody claim from sequence and expression evidence — and many pharmaceutical patents carry a supplementary protection certificate (SPC) extending their term.

• Nanobodies & antibody engineering — VHH sequence, antibody-format and expression claims from the Ablynx and Argenx lineage, proven from sequence and process evidence secured by a descriptive seizure
• Biotech & formulation — cell-line, fermentation, formulation and drug-delivery claims from the VIB and UGent cluster, often paired with an SPC
• Chemicals & advanced materials — composition, catalyst and polymer claims from the North Sea Port canal-zone industry, mapped from analytical and reaction data
• Steel & heavy industry — metallurgical, process and coating claims from ArcelorMittal Ghent and its suppliers, proven from process parameters and materials analysis

Building claim charts and evidence-of-use for a Belgian or UPC forum

The Brussels Enterprise Court, the court expert executing a descriptive seizure, and the UPC’s technically qualified panels all expect a disciplined evidentiary file — a chart that can be independently verified rather than merely argued. We start from claim construction, working through the claims, the specification and the prosecution history, then map each limitation against the real accused product or process, literally and, where appropriate, under the doctrine of equivalents as applied in Belgium.

• Element-by-element claim charts tying every limitation to a documented, dated piece of evidence a court expert can re-run
• Biotech and nanobody evidence-of-use from sequence data, cell-line and expression records, assay behaviour and formulation analysis
• Chemistry and materials evidence-of-use from composition, catalyst, reaction and metallurgical analysis of the accused product
• Non-infringement and design-around positions for an accused party, anchored to the specification and the file wrapper
• A coordinated invalidity file, because a validity challenge can run alongside the infringement action in Brussels and at the UPC
• Deliverables scoped to a saisie-contrefaçon application so recovered material maps cleanly onto every claim limitation

The deliverable is scoped to the forum. A national action before the Brussels Enterprise Court, a descriptive-seizure application, or a UPC infringement or revocation action each demands a slightly different package. What never changes is the core: a claim chart a court expert and a specialist judge can adopt, built on evidence rather than conclusions.

How PerspireIP scopes a Ghent infringement-analysis engagement

Every engagement follows the same path. We fix the correct claim construction, map each element against the accused product, and assemble evidence-of-use in the form the technology demands — sequence and process records for nanobodies and biotech, composition and reaction data for chemicals, metallurgical and process analysis for steel and materials. Then we build the file the Belgian process actually uses: material a descriptive seizure can secure and a court expert can verify. A patent infringement analysis Ghent teams can take straight into a saisie-contrefaçon application is the goal.

• Claim construction and element-by-element charting against a Belgian national patent, a validated European patent or a unitary patent
• Evidence-of-use assembly dated and documented for a descriptive seizure, a Brussels Enterprise Court judge or a UPC panel
• Infringement and non-infringement positions built for either side, coordinated with any parallel validity or revocation challenge
• Deliverables scoped to the track — a Brussels complaint, a saisie-contrefaçon application, or a UPC statement of claim, with the Article 83 opt-out question flagged early

We work alongside your Belgian and international counsel as a specialist analysis partner, deliver to Brussels Enterprise Court and UPC deadlines, and keep every engagement confidential. Whether you are a nanobody or biotech developer enforcing a portfolio, a chemicals, materials or steel producer, an accused party clearing a path to market, or litigation counsel preparing a claim or a defence, we scale to fit — a single claim chart, a multi-patent matter, or ongoing portfolio support. Send us the patent number and the accused product, and we will scope the work within one business day.

IP Landscape & Resources in Ghent

Key intellectual-property authorities and venues relevant to Ghent:

• Belgian Intellectual Property Office (OPRI/DIE) — the Office de la Propriete intellectuelle / Dienst voor de Intellectuele Eigendom within the FPS Economy, Belgium's national authority granting Belgian patents and administering supplementary protection certificates
• Belgian Judiciary (Courts and Tribunals) — the official portal of the Belgian courts; the Brussels Enterprise Court (Ondernemingsrechtbank Brussel / Tribunal de l'entreprise de Bruxelles) holds exclusive national jurisdiction over patent infringement and validity actions under Article XI.337 of the Code of Economic Law, with appeal to the Brussels Court of Appeal
• Unified Patent Court (UPC) — the pan-European court that hears infringement and revocation of non-opted-out European patents and unitary patents, with a Brussels Local Division and the Court of Appeal in Luxembourg
• European Patent Office (EPO) — the office that grants European patents which, once validated in Belgium or granted unitary effect, are enforced before the Brussels Enterprise Court or the UPC

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