Bart Lieben is a counsel in the firm's Brussels office and is a member of the Brussels bar. He joined Crowell & Moring in 2010. Bart specializes in (international) commercial law, with a particular focus on IP, telecommunications, media and technology law.
In this capacity, Bart represents clients in protecting, managing and enforcing their intellectual property rights, including in transactional matters, such as distribution, agency, licensing, technology transfer, software development, outsourcing and service level agreements.
Over the past years, Bart has become deeply involved in assisting new Internet top-level domains in their organization, implementation and launch. More in particular, Bart assisted the following clients:
· the European Registry of Internet Domain Names (EURid, .EU) in setting up their corporate structure, drafting of intellectual property dispute prevention and resolution procedures, and assisting in domain name dispute resolution. Furthermore, Bart successfully directed the .EU Sunrise process, which is still regarded as the largest intellectual property audit carried out in the world;
· mTLD Ltd (.MOBI) in the .mobi policy development and Sunrise processes in 2006;
· in 2007, Bart directed the Sunrise processes for the DotAsia Organization (.ASIA), doMEn d.o.o. (.ME) and the numerical Sunrise process for SIDN (.NL), where he also directed consultations with IP stakeholder groups, and drafted policies and procedures for the respective Sunrise processes, and managed domain name disputes in this respect;
· Bart also assisted Telnic Ltd. in its start-up of the .TEL top-level domain between 2006 and 2009, the .CO ccTLD (managed by .CO Internet SAS) in 2009 and 2010, and .SO (operated by GMO Registry in Tokyo, Japan). Also here, Bart assisted in setting up these domain name registries, consulted on and drafted domain name registration and dispute resolution policies, and dealt with related domain name disputes.
Bart also advised ICANN in defining the evaluation criteria and process for the New gTLD Program, which formed a basis for the Draft Applicant Guidebooks recently published in relation to the New gTLD Program. Against this backdrop, various trademark owners, domain name registrars, back-end registry operators, and future TLD applicants are calling upon Bart's unique and unparalleled expertise in the setting up, launch and management of domain name registries, and knowledge about the ICANN and rights protection processes.
On various occasions, the European Commission, the European Patent Office and the United Nations have appointed Bart as an expert consultant in relation to legal issues concerning intellectual property and information technology law.
Bart is a member of the International Trademark Association (and a member of INTA's Internet Committee) and the .BE domain name dispute resolution service provider, CEPINA. He has excellent contacts within the domain name industry, in particular domain name registrars, back-end registry operators and domain name dispute resolution service providers. He is the main architect of theClearingHouse for Intellectual Property (CHIP), a revolutionary tool and service that assists brand owners in safeguarding their rights and interests in the Domain Name System.
Bart is a qualified lawyer in Belgium and obtained a law degree from the University of Antwerp (1998, graduated cum laude), and LL.Ms. in Intellectual Property Law and Corporate Law (1999 and 2000, Catholic Universities of Louvain and Brussels) and Business Law (2001, University of Antwerp). He is a Professor at the University of Alicante (Spain) and at the Karel de Grote-Hogeschool in Antwerp (Belgium), where he lectures on intellectual property law, information technology law and technology transfer.
Other Affiliations
Member of the International Trademark Association (INTA);
Member of CEPINA.
Professor at the Karel De Grote-Hogeschool (Belgium) and the University of Alicante (Spain)
Publications
· "On your marks for the great gTLD brand race," World Trademark Review(August/September 2011). Co-Authors: Flip Petillion and Bart Lieben.
· "Virtual Realities: Game Changer," Intellectual Property Magazine (March 2011). Co-Authors: Flip Petillion and Bart Lieben.
Alerts & Newsletters
· "90-Day Filing Window Opens for New Internet Top-Level Domain Applications,"TLDs & Domain Names Alert (January 12, 2012). Contacts: Flip Petillion, John I. Stewart Jr., Bart Lieben, John L. Murino.
Speaking Engagements
· "The Changing Domain Name Landscape and New gTLDS, Avoiding and countering trademark abuse and infringement," ICC, Paris (September 30, 2011). Co-Presenters: Flip Petillion and Bart Lieben.
· "Some Legal Rules of the Road for Non-brand gTLDs: Competition and Community," webinar (September 28, 2011). Presenters: Bart Lieben and Sean-Paul Brankin.
· "Le Programme des Nouveaux gTLDs après Singapour," [The program of the new gTLDs after Singapore], AFNIC webinar (June 28, 2011). Speakers: Flip Petillion and Bart Lieben.
· "Nieuwe Top-Level Domains: Aanvraag- en implementatieprocedure," Actua Intellectuele eigendomsrechten, [Actua Intellectual Property], Kluwer, La Hulpe(February 24, 2011). Speaker: Bart Lieben.