Alain Strowel

Alain Strowel is a Belgian Avocat since 1988 and works in the Brussels office. His practice concentrates on intellectual property, media and information technology law. He has litigated many IP-related cases before the Belgian courts (ISP liability, protection of slogans, trademarks issues, comparative advertising), and has as well appeared before the European Court of Justice and the European Patent Office.

Mr. Strowel and Covington's IP Practice in Belgium are recommended by both Legal 500 EMEA and Chambers Europe.

He has particular expertise in issues relating to digital copyright and the Internet. On top of the work that he is doing for clients in the IT sector, including the Business Software Alliance, he regularly advises pharmaceutical clients on patent infringement, IP enforcement, TRIPs and parallel trade issues. Mr. Strowel is a panelist for the WIPO domain name resolution procedure.

Prior to joining Covington & Burling LLP in April 2001, Mr. Strowel worked in the Brussels IP section of a major Dutch firm. He also serves as a professor in the Universities of Brussels and Liége, where he teaches copyright and design law. He is an active member of various IP associations, including the Licensing Executive Society, ALAI, European Patent Lawyers Association, Computer Law Association.

Mr. Strowel is in the editorial board of many specialised law journals including: Propriétés intellectuelles (Paris), Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice (Oxford), Computer Law Review International (Cologne), Auteurs et Media and L'Ingénieur-Conseil (Belgium), Les Cahiers de propriété intellectuelle (Montréal).

Representative Matters

· Representing a copyright holder before the European Court of Justice in a case involving the cable retransmission right.

· Advising a major pharmaceutical group on patent extension in various countries.

· Monitoring on behalf of a major trade association the implementation of the Copyright in the Information Society Directive.

· Advising a group of companies on freedom of goods and other issues relating to copyright levies.

· Preparing a detailed advice for the Board of an important broadcaster on an issue of freedom of establishment involving the Directive TV without Frontiers.

Honors and Rankings

· Legal 500 EMEA, Intellectual Property - Belgium (2010-2011)

· PLC Which Lawyer? Intellectual Property, Belgium (2010-2011)

· Legal Experts EMEA (2010)

· Chambers Europe, Intellectual Property - Belgium (2009-2011)

Publications and Speeches

Publishes numerous articles in French and English and lectures regularly on Intellectual Property issues for various specialised associations (LES, ALAI, Fordham annual IP conference, etc.). He authored and edited numerous books and articles.

Publications

· "Secondary Liability for Copyright Infringement with Regard to Hyperlink," Peer-to-Peer File Sharing and Secondary Liability in Copyright Law (2009), Co-Author

· "Quand Google défie le droit: Plaidoyer pour un Internet transparent et de qualité," Groupe de Boeck (April 2011), Author

· "Stumbling Block for the Proposed European Patents Court," Covington Alert (3/8/2011), Co-Author

· "Employee's Rights to Compensation for Inventions - A European Perspective," PLC Life Sciences Handbook 2009/10 (2009/10), Co-Author

· "Peer-to-Peer File Sharing and Secondary Liability in Copyright Law," (2009), Co-Author

· "Google et les nouveaux services en ligne," (2008), Co-Author

· "Intellectual Property and Theories of Justice," (2008), Co-Author

· "Last-ditch Attempt to Improve the EU Patent System," Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice (September 2007), Co-Author

· "Droit d'auteur et liberté d'expression. Regards francophones, d'Europe et d'ailleurs," Larcier (2006), Editor

· "Registration Guidelines for New .eu Internet Domain Names," Covington E-Alert (10/7/2005), Co-Author

· "Belgium," chapter in Domain Name Law and Practice - An International Handbook (2005)

· "Freedom of Expression and Copyright Under Civil Law : Of Balance, Adaptation and Access," chapter in Copyright and Free Speech (2005)

· "Compulsory Licensing of IP Rights: The Latest Chapter in the IMS Saga," IP Europe (January 2004), Co-Author

· "Toward An Effective Europe-Wide Patent System," Current Drug Discovery (May 2003), Co-Author

· "Exhaustion : New Interpretation for Software Distribution," Computer und Recht International (2002)

· "Droit d'auteur et numérique: logiciels, bases de données et multimédia, droit belge, europeen et comparé," Bruxelles: Bruylant (October 2001), Co-Author

· "Liability With Regard to Hyperlinks," Columbia - VLA Journal of Law & the Arts (Summer 2001), Co-Author

Presentations and Speeches

· "Moral Rights in the Wittem Project," The European Copyright Code - The Wittem Project (9/16/2011)

· "Copyright," 6th Annual Conference of the EPIP Association (9/9/2011)