# Pitch > Pitch is a European law and intellectual property firm in Antwerp, Belgium, founded in 2022: a unique combination of lawyers and patent attorneys under one roof. We assist innovative and creative entrepreneurs who focus on European and international markets with everything a company built on creativity and innovation needs, through the entire lifecycle of their business: patents, designs, trade secrets, trademarks and copyright; privacy, data protection and AI; digital compliance such as NIS2, DORA and the Cyber Resilience Act; and commercial contracts, corporate matters, investments and M&A. Our own technology makes our work faster, more efficient and of higher quality, which lets us work on fixed fees, retainers, subscriptions or other alternative fee arrangements, whichever our clients feel most comfortable with. Lawyers and patent attorneys share one office: Mechelsesteenweg 271, 2018 Antwerp, Belgium. Contact: info@pitch.law · +32 478 19 19 90 · Monday–Friday, 09:00–18:00 · Schedule a meeting: https://pitch.law/schedule · Dutch version: https://pitch.law/nl ([this file in Dutch](https://pitch.law/nl/llms.txt)) Every page also exists as Markdown: add `.md` to its URL (the home page is /index.md), or request it with `Accept: text/markdown`. The full text of the pages listed here, in one Markdown file: https://pitch.law/llms-full.txt Pitch advises on what a client wants to achieve, not on isolated legal topics. Each goal page lists the questions that change the answer, typical FAQs, and the related services. ## Goals: Your brand - [Choose and clear your brand](https://pitch.law/goals/choose-and-clear-your-brand): Pick a name you can actually own, in every market you plan to enter. - [Register your trademark](https://pitch.law/goals/register-your-trademark): File in the right classes and countries. Protect your logo and designs where they matter, and never miss a renewal. - [Use and license your brand](https://pitch.law/goals/use-and-license-your-brand): A mark you do not use, you can lose. Use it properly, then license it to partners and franchisees, or sell it. - [Enforce your brand](https://pitch.law/goals/enforce-your-brand): Copycats rarely stop on their own. Oppose look-alike filings early, have counterfeits taken down, recover domain names. ## Goals: Your inventions - [Develop and innovate](https://pitch.law/goals/develop-and-innovate): Working with a university or a partner? Agree who owns the results before the work starts. - [Patent your invention](https://pitch.law/goals/patent-your-invention): Decide what to patent and what to keep secret. Then file in time, and choose between the Unitary Patent and national patents. - [Commercialise your technology](https://pitch.law/goals/commercialise-your-technology): License or sell your technology at a price that reflects what it is worth. The tax rules on IP income can work in your favour. - [Enforce your patents](https://pitch.law/goals/enforce-your-patents): Stop infringers, or defend yourself when someone claims you infringe. Before national courts or the UPC. ## Goals: Your company - [Start a company](https://pitch.law/goals/start-a-company): Set up the company and agree terms with your co-founders. Above all, make sure the company, not you personally, owns what you build. - [Finance your growth](https://pitch.law/goals/finance-your-growth): Raise money from investors. Subsidies and tax incentives for innovation make it go further. - [Grow your business](https://pitch.law/goals/grow-your-business): Hire people without letting your know-how walk out the door. Work with distributors. Expand abroad. - [Restructure](https://pitch.law/goals/restructure): Reorganise your group or bring in new shareholders. Often the real question is which entity should hold the IP. - [Buy or sell a business](https://pitch.law/goals/buy-or-sell-a-business): Check what you’re buying, or get your company ready so buyers pay full value for it. ## Goals: Your business relationships - [Find and select partners](https://pitch.law/goals/find-partners-and-suppliers): Run or answer a tender. Check who you are dealing with before you sign. - [Contract](https://pitch.law/goals/contract): Contracts in plain language, with your IP and your data properly covered. SaaS, services, distribution, supply, licensing. - [Perform and manage](https://pitch.law/goals/manage-relationships): Your business changes. Your contracts have to keep up: renewals, amendments, deadlines, audits. - [Resolve disputes](https://pitch.law/goals/resolve-disputes): Try to settle first. If that fails, mediation, arbitration or court, and urgent measures when every day counts. - [End the relationship](https://pitch.law/goals/end-the-relationship): Part ways cleanly: the right notice, your data and IP back, and clear agreements on what still applies afterwards. ## Goals: Your digital compliance - [GDPR and privacy](https://pitch.law/goals/gdpr-and-privacy): Personal data, handled lawfully: your record of processing, cookies, data subject requests, and what to do after a breach. - [AI Act](https://pitch.law/goals/ai-act): Find out which AI Act duties apply to you as a provider or user of AI, and when. - [Data Act and data sharing](https://pitch.law/goals/data-act): Share or license your data on your terms, and meet the access and switching rules of the Data Act. - [Operational resilience: NIS2 and DORA](https://pitch.law/goals/operational-resilience): NIS2 and, in financial services, DORA: keep your services running, manage your suppliers and report incidents on time. - [Secure products: Cybersecurity Act and Cyber Resilience Act](https://pitch.law/goals/secure-products): Bring hardware and software to the EU market that meet the Cyber Resilience Act, and use EU cybersecurity certification where it counts. - [Online platforms: Digital Services Act](https://pitch.law/goals/online-platforms): Host user content or run a marketplace? Set up notice and action, transparent terms and trader checks under the DSA and the P2B Regulation. - [Consumer law and e-commerce](https://pitch.law/goals/consumer-and-e-commerce): Selling online to consumers comes with a long checklist. Information duties, withdrawal and guarantees, pricing and reviews, green claims, accessibility. - [Sanctions and anti-money laundering](https://pitch.law/goals/sanctions-and-aml): Screen customers and partners, and know what the sanctions and anti-money laundering rules expect of you. ## Solutions - [AI Act Compliance](https://pitch.law/solutions/ai-act-compliance): We help you find out which of your AI systems fall under the EU AI Act, in what role, and what you must have in place and by when. - [Commercial Contracts & Transactions](https://pitch.law/solutions/commercial-contracts-transactions): Supply, distribution, services, SaaS and procurement contracts, and the deals around them, drafted and reviewed with the IP, data and tax angles in view. - [Belgian Copyright Tax Regime](https://pitch.law/solutions/copyright-tax-regime): In Belgium, copyright fees can be taxed as movable income at 15%. Since the 2023 reform the conditions are strict: we test them and document the deal. - [Data and Database Rights Protection](https://pitch.law/solutions/data-and-database-rights-protection): How to protect the data and databases you build, through database rights, trade secrets, copyright and the contracts that hold them together. - [Data Breach Response](https://pitch.law/solutions/data-breach-response-enforcement): Help from the first hours of a personal data breach: assessment, notification to the authority and individuals, documentation, and action against the source. - [Data Licensing and Data Sharing](https://pitch.law/solutions/data-licensing-sharing): Share or license data without giving away more than you meant to. Clear scope, settled ownership of what is derived from it, and the GDPR layer built in. - [Data Processing Agreements](https://pitch.law/solutions/data-processing-agreements): Article 28 GDPR agreements drafted, reviewed and negotiated for controllers and processors, including sub-processors and international transfers. - [Domain Name Disputes](https://pitch.law/solutions/domain-name-litigation): We recover or cancel domain names registered in bad faith, through the UDRP, the URS, the .eu procedure, country-code procedures such as .be, or the courts, and defend clients accused of the same. - [Data Protection Officer as a Service](https://pitch.law/solutions/dpo-as-a-service): An external Data Protection Officer who advises, monitors and documents your GDPR compliance, with a register, calendar and portal behind the advice. - [Brand Monitoring & Online Enforcement](https://pitch.law/solutions/effective-online-brand-protection): Counterfeits, lookalike shops, fake accounts, infringing listings on marketplaces and app stores. We find them, and we usually get them taken down within one working day. - [Belgian Withholding Tax Exemption for R&D Staff](https://pitch.law/solutions/exemption-from-the-professional-withholding-tax-for-knowledge-staff): In Belgium, employers running qualifying R&D can keep up to 80% of the professional withholding tax on their researchers' pay. We handle the registration, the file and the follow-up. - [Funding](https://pitch.law/solutions/funding): Before investors put money in, they want to see clean IP, clean records and clean contracts. We get you ready for the round, then do the legal work through to closing. - [Incorporate a Company in Belgium](https://pitch.law/solutions/incorporation): Setting up a Belgian company means choosing the right form, a sound financial plan, articles and a shareholders' agreement, and making sure the company owns the IP behind the business. We prepare everything and work with your notary. - [Belgian Innovation Income Deduction](https://pitch.law/solutions/innovation-income-deduction): Belgian companies can deduct 85% of net income from qualifying IP, which brings the effective rate on that income down to about 3.75%. We establish whether you qualify and build the file. - [IP Portfolio Management](https://pitch.law/solutions/ip-portfolio-intelligence): We keep your trademarks, designs, domain names and patents in one overview, follow every deadline and prepare each renewal decision with a cost estimate. - [M&A and Due Diligence](https://pitch.law/solutions/m-a-due-diligence): A deal needs a structure, a hard look at what is being transferred, and a contract that puts each risk with the right party. We run the legal side from preparation to closing. - [Management Agreement](https://pitch.law/solutions/management-agreement): A director or manager who works through a management company or as a self-employed person needs an agreement that holds up as a mandate and not as employment. We draft it around the law that applies, the company's IP and a clean exit. - [New gTLDs for Brands](https://pitch.law/solutions/new-gtlds): Advice for brand owners on ICANN's new gTLD programme, from the decision to apply through objections and contention to running a registry. - [Brand Policy Compliance](https://pitch.law/solutions/online-brand-compliance): We help brand owners get distributors, resellers and licensees to follow the brand rules, through the contract, monitoring and a graduated response. - [Patent Research](https://pitch.law/solutions/patent-research): Prior art, patentability and freedom-to-operate answers from attorneys, built on structured patent data and checked citations. - [360° Patent Strategy](https://pitch.law/solutions/patent-strategy): Decide what to protect, where and when, and plan the cost, so that your patents serve the business and not the other way round. - [Patent and Technology Licensing](https://pitch.law/solutions/patent-technology-licensing): Licence or acquire patents, know-how and software on terms that protect your edge, your income and your competition-law position. - [R&D Grants and Subsidies](https://pitch.law/solutions/r-d-funding): Grants can fund a real share of an R&D project, but only a well-built application gets there. We match the project to EU programmes such as Horizon Europe, or to national and regional schemes, and manage the file. - [Shareholders' Agreement](https://pitch.law/solutions/shareholders-agreement): A shareholders' agreement sets out how the owners run the company, who may sell to whom and what happens when they disagree. We draft it with the articles of association, and make sure the IP stays in the company. - [Trademark Clearance](https://pitch.law/solutions/trademark-clearance): Can you use the name, and can you register it? A clearance search answers both, with a signed opinion that rates each risk and tells you what to do. A quick check or a preliminary search is usually ready within one working day. - [Trademark Licensing](https://pitch.law/solutions/trademark-licensing): Licence your brand to a partner, franchisee or distributor and keep control of quality, territory and the mark itself. - [Trademark Registration](https://pitch.law/solutions/trademark-registration): We choose the right route and scope for your mark, file it with the EUIPO, the BOIP or through the Madrid System, and keep it in order afterwards. - [Trademark Watch & Opposition](https://pitch.law/solutions/trademark-watch-opposition-monitoring): We watch the registers for new marks that conflict with yours, tell you which ones matter, and oppose within the deadline when you instruct us to. - [Valuation](https://pitch.law/solutions/valuation): A price for a company or its IP is only as good as the rights behind it. We supply the legal, IP and tax input that makes a valuation stand, whether it serves a funding round, a contribution in kind, a transfer or an exit. ## Technology - [AI Act Register and Assessments](https://pitch.law/technologies/ai-act-governance-toolkit): One register where your AI systems are listed, classified and followed per role, with assessments, incident records and an AI Act timeline, all checked by an attorney. - [Data Breach Handling](https://pitch.law/technologies/breach-response-workflow): A GDPR Article 33 and 34 workflow with a 72-hour countdown, a reference per breach and a structured notification to the supervisory authority, approved by a lawyer. - [Contract Review](https://pitch.law/technologies/clause-library-risk-review): Send us the contract the other side drafted and we check it clause by clause against our playbook, with a risk ranking an attorney has verified. - [Client Portal](https://pitch.law/technologies/client-portal): A secure place where you follow your matters, instruct us on deadlines, work on registers with us and see your IP portfolio, in the same environment as our work. - [Contract Management: Rights and Obligations](https://pitch.law/technologies/contract-obligations): Once a contract is final, we pull out each party's duties and rights with the clause they come from, have a person confirm them, and follow them with reminders. - [Document Studio](https://pitch.law/technologies/contract-studio): Our Document Studio drafts and analyses legal documents in a secure, on-premise environment, and keeps the documents behind your matters up to date as new data comes in and procedural steps fall due. - [Data Room and Due Diligence](https://pitch.law/technologies/data-room): One controlled environment for M&A due diligence, RFI and RFP processes, one-off reviews and recurring scans, with lawyers checking what comes out. - [Data Protection Impact Assessment](https://pitch.law/technologies/digital-data-protection-impact-assessment): Guided data protection impact assessments, kept as working records that you and your attorney complete together in the client portal. - [Online Brand Monitoring](https://pitch.law/technologies/domain-monitoring-enforcement): Continuous discovery of lookalike domain names, counterfeit listings and impersonating accounts, with detections shown in the client portal for attorney review. - [Data Subject Requests](https://pitch.law/technologies/dsar-handling): Requests from individuals are logged in the client portal, tracked against the deadline and fulfilled with a data export and, for erasure, a cascade across linked records. - [Trademark Clearance Search](https://pitch.law/technologies/efficient-cost-effective-and-accurate-trademark-clearance-solutions): Our clearance engine takes a name from intake to a signed opinion. It tests absolute grounds, searches registers and the web, and scores every conflict. An attorney signs off each step. - [IP Cost Estimator](https://pitch.law/technologies/ip-cost-estimator): Multi-jurisdiction cost estimates for trademarks, designs and patents, split into official fees, professional fees and disbursements, with scenarios compared side by side. - [Trademark and Design Watch](https://pitch.law/technologies/online-brand-protection): Scheduled watches of trademark and design registers, with new hits compared against the last run and routed to a recommended action for you to decide on. - [Takedowns and Enforcement Notices](https://pitch.law/technologies/online-takedowns): A notice workflow for marketplaces, registrars, hosts and platforms, with a timestamped evidence pack for each action and enforcement documents drafted in four languages. - [Patent Analysis and Research](https://pitch.law/technologies/patent-intelligence): Analysis of third-party patents and research answers grounded in the patent literature and in UPC and EPO case law, with every citation checked and every opinion signed by an attorney. - [Online Patent Monitoring and Enforcement](https://pitch.law/technologies/patent-online-enforcement): Marketplace and webshop listings that may infringe your patents are found, captured with trusted-timestamped evidence and assessed by a patent attorney against your claims, before notices go out and escalation is decided. - [Patent Watch](https://pitch.law/technologies/patent-watch): Scheduled watches that report what other parties publish, grant or change in your field, with every hit read by an attorney. - [IP Portfolio, Renewals and Deadlines](https://pitch.law/technologies/portfolio-renewals): Your trademarks, designs, domain names and patents in one view, with deadlines docketed, renewals batched and every computed date confirmed by a person. - [Records of Processing and Compliance Registers](https://pitch.law/technologies/privacy-register): One register engine for the GDPR record of processing activities and for the AI Act, NIS2 and DORA registers, with article references, evidence and attorney or DPO approval. - [Trademark Filing](https://pitch.law/technologies/trademark-filing): Our filing technology prepares EUIPO, BOIP and WIPO applications in one flow. An EUIPO or Benelux filing is usually done within one working day, at a fixed fee. Nothing is filed without an attorney's sign-off. ## Academy (legal explainers) - [EU AI Act Timeline: Every Date from 2024 to 2030](https://pitch.law/academy/ai-act-compliance-timeline): The AI Act applies in stages from 2 February 2025 to 31 December 2030. Every date, what applies and who it affects, with the 2026 high-risk postponement. - [AI Act Meets GDPR: Where the Two Frameworks Overlap](https://pitch.law/academy/ai-act-meets-gdpr-where-frameworks-overlap): How the AI Act and the GDPR apply side by side to the same AI system: roles, impact assessments, automated decisions, transparency, data quality and special categories. - [AI Act Risk Classification: the Four Risk Levels](https://pitch.law/academy/ai-act-risk-classification-explained): The AI Act sorts AI into unacceptable (prohibited), high, limited (transparency) and minimal risk. How to tell which level your AI system falls in. - [AI Clauses in Vendor Contracts: 9 Terms to Negotiate](https://pitch.law/academy/ai-clauses-in-vendor-contracts): The AI clauses to negotiate when you buy or supply AI: AI Act roles, training on your data, output ownership, IP indemnity, audit and logs, liability. - [AI Act in HR and Recruitment: the High-Risk Rules](https://pitch.law/academy/ai-in-hr-and-recruitment-under-the-ai-act): Recruitment and HR AI is usually high-risk under the AI Act (from 2 December 2027), and emotion recognition at work is banned. What employers must do. - [AI and Intellectual Property: Training Data and Copyright](https://pitch.law/academy/ai-intellectual-property-training-data-copyright-disclosure): How EU copyright law and the AI Act treat training data, rights holders' opt-outs, training summaries, and the protection of AI-generated output and inventions. - [The AI Literacy Obligation](https://pitch.law/academy/ai-literacy-obligation-businesses-overlooking): Article 4 of the AI Act has applied since February 2025 to every company using AI. What it requires, how the 2026 amendment changed it and what to document. - [AI under Swiss Law and the GDPR: Key Differences](https://pitch.law/academy/ai-under-swiss-fadp-and-gdpr): What the revised Swiss FADP and the GDPR mean for companies that build or use AI services: scope, legal bases, impact assessments, transfers, sanctions and the EU AI Act. - [Copyright and Lawyers: Belgium's Court of Cassation](https://pitch.law/academy/auteursrechten-en-advocaten-het-hof-van-cassatie-zet-de-puntjes-op-de-i): Belgium's Court of Cassation held that the rules of the legal profession do not rule out copyright in a lawyer's writing, and what this means for ownership, engagement letters and tax. - [Brand TLDs in the 2026 Round: the Applicant Guidebook](https://pitch.law/academy/brand-tlds-in-the-2026-round-of-new-gtlds-key-takeaways-from-the-draft-applicant-guidebook): What a brand TLD is, how the Applicant Guidebook treats it, and the contract obligations that come with running one. - [Building an AI Governance Framework](https://pitch.law/academy/building-an-ai-governance-framework): What an internal AI governance framework consists of, which legal duties it must carry, and how a mid-sized organisation can build one in proportion to its use of AI. - [Commercial Contracts: a Map](https://pitch.law/academy/commercial-contracts-overview): The main families of commercial contract, the EU and national rules that frame them, and where risk and value tend to sit. - [Conformity Assessments for High-Risk AI](https://pitch.law/academy/conformity-assessments-high-risk-ai-systems): What a provider of a high-risk AI system must demonstrate before market entry under the AI Act, which assessment route applies and what follows afterwards. - [Cookies and Consent](https://pitch.law/academy/cookie-compliance-and-consent-management): When a cookie banner is required, what valid consent looks like and how the ePrivacy rules and the GDPR work together. - [GDPR Breach Notification: the 72-Hour Rule](https://pitch.law/academy/data-breach-response-the-72-hour-countdown): Article 33 GDPR: notify the authority within 72 hours of becoming aware of a personal data breach. When to notify, how hours count, when to tell people. - [GDPR Data Retention: How Long to Keep Personal Data](https://pitch.law/academy/data-retention-policies-how-long-should-you-keep-personal-data): The GDPR sets no fixed retention period: Article 5(1)(e) allows no longer than necessary. How to set retention periods, handle backups and delete data. - [How to Answer a DSAR Within the GDPR Deadline](https://pitch.law/academy/data-subject-access-requests-dsars-practical-guide): Answer a data subject access request within one month, extendable by two (Articles 12 and 15 GDPR): what to send, what you may refuse, how to keep time. - [Database Rights and Trade Secrets](https://pitch.law/academy/database-rights-and-trade-secrets): How the EU database right, copyright and trade secret law protect data and databases, what each requires, and where contracts must fill the gaps. - [Distribution and Reseller Agreements](https://pitch.law/academy/distribution-reseller-agreements): How to structure distribution and reseller agreements in the EU: exclusivity, termination protection, online sales, and the brand provisions that keep control. - [Brand TLDs in Financial Services](https://pitch.law/academy/dotbrand-domains-in-financial-services-what-a-decade-of-data-reveals-about-trust-security-and-the-road-to-2026): Why banks and insurers look at brand TLDs, what a brand TLD can and cannot do against phishing, and which EU rules shape the decision. - [The EU AI Act: a Practical Overview](https://pitch.law/academy/eu-ai-act-practical-overview-for-businesses): What the AI Act regulates, who it applies to, how the risk-based approach works and what the penalties are, as of October 2026. - [The EU Data Act](https://pitch.law/academy/eu-data-act): What Regulation (EU) 2023/2854 requires of makers and users of connected products, data holders, cloud providers and anyone who contracts about data, and when each part applies. - [EUIPO Fast Track](https://pitch.law/academy/euipo-fast-track-filing): Fast Track speeds up examination of EU trade mark applications that use pre-approved wording. This article explains what it is, what it does not change and when it makes sense. - [Freedom-to-Operate Analysis](https://pitch.law/academy/freedom-to-operate-analysis): What a freedom-to-operate analysis is, how claims are read against a product, what it can and cannot tell you, and what to do when it finds a problem. - [Records of Processing Activities (RoPA)](https://pitch.law/academy/gdpr-records-of-processing-activities-ropa-what-you-need-to-know): What Article 30 GDPR requires you to record, who must keep a register, and how to keep it useful. - [Finding the IP You Already Have](https://pitch.law/academy/hidden-intellectual-property-audit): Most companies own more intellectual property than they have registered. This article explains which rights arise without registration, how an IP audit finds them, and why ownership matters. - [History of ICANN's New gTLD Program](https://pitch.law/academy/history-and-background): How the top-level domain space grew from a handful of extensions to more than a thousand, and what the earlier rounds teach applicants and brand owners today. - [How to Value an IP Portfolio](https://pitch.law/academy/how-to-value-ip-portfolio): Why and when an IP portfolio is valued, the three standard valuation approaches, and the legal facts that decide whether a right is worth what its owner thinks. - [ICANN's Next Round of New gTLDs (2026)](https://pitch.law/academy/icanns-next-round-of-new-generic-top-level-domains-in-2026): Where ICANN's 2026 round of new generic top-level domains stands in October 2026, how the process continues after the application window, and what it means for brand owners. - [International Data Transfers](https://pitch.law/academy/international-data-transfers-post-schrems-ii): How Chapter V GDPR works after Schrems II: adequacy decisions, the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, standard contractual clauses and the assessment that goes with them. - [IP Cost Planning for Multi-Jurisdiction Filings](https://pitch.law/academy/ip-cost-planning-budgeting-for-multi-jurisdiction-filings): What a trademark portfolio costs depends on routes, classes and countries as much as on the number of marks. This article sets out the cost elements and how to plan them over the life of a mark. - [IP in Due Diligence](https://pitch.law/academy/ip-due-diligence-guide): What a buyer or investor checks about a company's intellectual property, why chain of title is the most common problem, and how a seller can prepare. - [Grants and Tax Incentives for IP in Belgium](https://pitch.law/academy/ip-grants-tax-incentives-belgium): An overview of the Belgian instruments that lower the cost of creating IP and the tax on the income it earns, and the documents you need before you can claim them. - [IP Lifecycle Management: the Stages of an IP Right](https://pitch.law/academy/ip-lifecycle-management): Every IP right is created, protected, maintained, used and ends one day. The stages of IP lifecycle management, their legal terms and the choices at each. - [Licensing Agreements](https://pitch.law/academy/licensing-agreements): How to structure an IP licence: scope, royalties, improvements, quality control, termination, and the EU rules that frame it. - [M&A Due Diligence: What to Expect](https://pitch.law/academy/m-and-a-due-diligence-what-to-expect): What a due diligence review covers in a share or asset deal in the EU, how the process runs, and how the findings turn into price, warranties and conditions. - [Managing Your IP Deadlines](https://pitch.law/academy/managing-your-ip-deadlines): Which time limits matter in trademark, design and patent matters, which of them can be extended, what happens when one is missed, and how a reliable deadline process is built. - [Manufacturing and Supply Agreements](https://pitch.law/academy/manufacturing-supply-agreements): What a manufacturing or supply agreement must settle: specifications, quality, liability, exclusivity and, above all, who owns the tooling, know-how and improvements. - [Master Services Agreements and Statements of Work](https://pitch.law/academy/master-services-agreements-sow): How a master services agreement and statements of work split the legal terms from the project detail, and how EU and national rules shape the key clauses. - [M&A for Growing Businesses](https://pitch.law/academy/mergers-acquisitions-overview): A practical walk through an M&A deal, share or asset deal, price mechanisms, warranties, change of control and getting from signing to closing. - [Online Brand Protection: How Brand Monitoring Works](https://pitch.law/academy/online-brand-protection-how-brand-monitoring-works): How infringements of a trademark are found online, which rules decide whether they are unlawful, and which routes exist to stop them. - [Prior Art and How to Search for It](https://pitch.law/academy/prior-art-search-patents): What counts as prior art under the European Patent Convention, what a patentability search covers, how it is done and what it cannot tell you. - [Can I Protect My Software?](https://pitch.law/academy/protecting-software-intellectual-property): Software is protected by copyright, sometimes by patent, and by trade secret law. This article explains what each protects, who owns the code, and how the rights combine. - [AI Act Provider vs Deployer: Duties and Article 25](https://pitch.law/academy/provider-vs-deployer-ai-act): Under the AI Act, the provider builds or brands an AI system and the deployer uses it. Each role's duties, and when Article 25 makes a deployer a provider. - [Renewal Management for IP Portfolios](https://pitch.law/academy/renewal-management-for-ip-portfolios): How renewals of trademarks, designs and patents work, what the grace periods are, how to decide which rights to keep, and the invoice scams to avoid. - [Running a Request for Information or Proposal](https://pitch.law/academy/rfi-rfp-procurement): How to run a request for information or proposal so that confidentiality, IP and your contract terms are protected before you choose a vendor. - [SaaS Agreements](https://pitch.law/academy/saas-agreements): Subscriptions, service levels, data ownership, liability and exit in SaaS contracts, with the GDPR, the Data Act and national contract rules. - [Sanctions Screening and Anti-Money Laundering](https://pitch.law/academy/sanctions-screening-and-anti-money-laundering-what-every-business-needs-to-know): What EU sanctions and anti-money-laundering rules require from businesses, who must identify beneficial owners, and how screening works in practice. - [Funding Rounds: Term Sheets and Investment Agreements](https://pitch.law/academy/startup-funding-rounds): How an equity round for a company in the EU works, the term sheet, what each clause does, the investment and shareholders' agreements, and what investors check first. - [Strategic Use Cases for Brand TLDs](https://pitch.law/academy/strategic-use-cases-for-brand-tlds-from-experiment-to-a-cornerstone-in-digital-strategy): How companies use a brand TLD in practice, from authentication and anti-phishing to internal systems and partner networks, and the legal points that go with each use. - [Know-How and Technology Transfer Agreements](https://pitch.law/academy/technology-transfer-agreements): How to transfer know-how, patents or software to a partner by contract: defining what moves, keeping know-how confidential, and the EU competition rules. - [Belgian Copyright Tax Regime After the 2023 Reform](https://pitch.law/academy/the-new-belgian-tax-regime-for-copyrights): In Belgium, copyright fees are taxed at 15% as movable income. What the 2023 reform changed and what to document so that the arrangement stands up. - [Nice Classification: How the 45 Classes Work](https://pitch.law/academy/the-nice-classification-explained): The Nice Classification sorts goods and services into 45 trademark classes (software, for example, is in class 9). How to choose classes and word them. - [The NIS2 Directive](https://pitch.law/academy/the-nis2-directive-towards-a-firmer-eu-wide-cybersecurity-framework): Who falls under NIS2, what the directive requires, how the 24-hour, 72-hour and one-month incident reports work and how they relate to GDPR breach notification. - [What Is a Trademark Clearance Search?](https://pitch.law/academy/trademark-clearance-search-explained): A clearance search checks, before you file or launch, whether earlier rights stand in the way of a new mark. This article explains what it covers, what it cannot do and how to read the result. - [Trademark Registration: From Application to Registration](https://pitch.law/academy/trademark-registration-from-application-to-registration): How a trademark application moves through the EUIPO, the Benelux office (BOIP) and the Madrid System, what happens after registration, and what keeps a registered mark in force. - [Transferring and Licensing a Trademark](https://pitch.law/academy/trademark-transfer-licensing-recordals): How assignments and licences of EU and Benelux trademarks work, why they should be recorded, and how customs recordals fit in. - [What Is a Trademark Watch?](https://pitch.law/academy/trademark-watch-service-explained): A trademark watch tells you when someone files a mark that resembles yours, while opposition is still possible. This article explains why it matters, how it works and what it cannot do. - [Transitional Services Agreements](https://pitch.law/academy/transitional-services-agreement-after-an-m-a-deal): What a transitional services agreement covers, the terms that decide whether the handover runs smoothly, and how to plan the exit from the start. - [Domain Name Disputes: the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy](https://pitch.law/academy/udrp-and-domain-name-disputes): How a bad-faith domain name can be recovered under the UDRP and URS, and under the separate procedure for .eu names, under country-code procedures, or through the courts. - [Understanding Trademark Similarity](https://pitch.law/academy/understanding-trademark-similarity): Whether two marks conflict depends on how similar they are and how close the goods are. This article explains the test and how its elements are weighed. - [The Unified Patent Court](https://pitch.law/academy/unified-patent-court): How the Unified Patent Court is organised, what it decides, how its proceedings differ from national courts, and what the opt-out means for your European patents. - [The Unitary Patent](https://pitch.law/academy/unitary-patent): What unitary effect is, which states it covers in October 2026, how it differs from validating a European patent country by country, and when each route makes sense. - [Website Technology Audits and the GDPR](https://pitch.law/academy/website-technology-audits-and-gdpr): What a website technology audit examines, why privacy notices and actual data flows drift apart, and which legal duties it checks. - [When to Oppose a Trademark](https://pitch.law/academy/when-to-oppose-a-trademark): Opposition lets the owner of an earlier right challenge a new trademark application before it is registered. This article explains the conditions, the deadlines and the factors that decide whether to proceed. ## People - [Vincent Michiels](https://pitch.law/team/vincent-michiels): Attorney-at-law - [Anke Steep](https://pitch.law/team/anke-steep): Attorney-at-law - [An De Vrieze](https://pitch.law/team/an-de-vrieze): European Patent Attorney - [Stephanie Sarlet](https://pitch.law/team/stephanie-sarlet): European Patent Attorney - [Bart Lieben](https://pitch.law/team/bart-lieben): Attorney-at-Law - [Mathieu Mortelé](https://pitch.law/team/mathieu-mortele): Attorney-at-Law - [Fred Lambrechts](https://pitch.law/team/fred-lambrechts): Attorney-at-law - [Tara Boutaleb](https://pitch.law/team/tara-boutaleb): Attorney - [Alihan Kaya](https://pitch.law/team/alihan-kaya): Patent Advisor - [Lars Huybrechts](https://pitch.law/team/lars-huybrechts): Trainee ## Optional - [For law firms outside the EU](https://pitch.law/partners): referral partnership with free monthly trademark, domain name and social media watch reports - [How we work](https://pitch.law/how-we-work): how people, process, our own technology and AI work together per matter; a lawyer approves every output - [About us](https://pitch.law/about-us) - [Unitary Patent cost calculator](https://pitch.law/unitary-patent/calculator)