Flip Petillion

Practice Areas

Alternative dispute resolution

Arbitration

Domestic Arbitration

International Arbitration

Commercial Arbitration

Court litigation

Antitrust and Competition

Art

Attachments

Automotive

Aviation and Aerospace

Banking and Finance

Construction, Engineering and Turnkey Projects

Defence Projects

Distribution, Agency and Franchising

Energy and Natural Resources

Fashion

Hospitality and Hotel Management

Insurance and Reinsurance

Information and Communication Technology

Intellectual Property

Internet

Investments

Joint Ventures, Consortia and Cooperation

Licensing

Maritime

Media, Broadcasting & Entertainment

Pharmaceuticals

Post Mergers and Acquisitions

Post Privatisation

Postal

Publishing

Sales and Purchases

Sports Law

Telecommunications

Transport

Career

Flip Petillion is a leading domestic and international negotiator, litigator and arbitrator. He appeared before Belgian Courts, and the General Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Flip Petillion has acted as counsel and also served as chairman, sole arbitrator and party-appointed arbitrator in arbitration proceedings under the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC, Paris, France), the International Dispute Resolution Center (ICDR, New York, NY, USA), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO, Geneva, Switzerland), the International Trademark Association (New York, NY, USA), the National Arbitration Forum (Minneapolis, MN, USA), the Independent Film and Television Association (Los Angeles, CA, USA), the Czech Arbitration Court (CAC, Prague, Czech Republic), the Nederlands Arbitrage Instituut (NAI, Rotterdam, the Netherlands), the Asian International Arbitration Center (AIAC, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), the Belgian Centre for Sports Arbitration (C-SAR, Brussels, Belgium), and the Belgian Mediation and Arbitration Centre (CEPANI, Brussels, Belgium).

Before founding PETILLION in 2017, Flip was a partner in a U.S. law firm (International Arbitration and Dispute Resolution department; Intellectual Property department).

Flip’s volunteer work includes being the CFO of the Brussels Bar, presiding the Greener Arbitration Committee of CEPANI, presiding the GDPR Task Force of CEPANI, presiding the ICC IP and IT Commission, representing the Council of Flemish Bars in the Council of European bars.

Professional Memberships

Deputy judge in the Court of Appeals of Brussels since 2009.

Lecturer at, i.a., Leuven University and Beneluxstichting Beroepsopleiding Merken- en Modellengemachtigden (BBMM)

Member of the council and CFO of the Brussels Bar.

Clients

Represented the Belgian government before the Court of Justice of the European Union, defending the implementation of the postal services directive.

Representing Namecheap in an international arbitration against ICANN regarding a regulatory decision to remove price caps in wholesale transactions for the registration of domain names in legacy top-level domains (ICDR administered arbitration).

Representing Beevers Kaas, the exclusive distributor of Beemster cheese in Belgium, in a distribution and competition case against Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn (proceedings before the Antwerp Court of Appeal, Belgian Competition Authority and the Court of Justice of the European Union).

Representing Inter Ikea in an IP infringement case against the political party Vlaams Belang (proceedings before the Brussels Court of Appeal and the Court of Justice of the European Union).

Counsel and Arbitrator in international commercial arbitrations (ICDR (AAA), ICC and CEPANI administered arbitrations).

Arbitrator in the matter of Koninklijke voetbalvereniging Oostende against the Royal Belgian Football Association (C-SAR).

Co-arbitrator in the matter of Royal Excelsior Virton against the Royal Belgian Football Association (C-SAR).

Expert in these Jurisdictions

Europe, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, USA.

Publications

Books

Guide to the Alternative Resolution of Intellectual Property Rights Disputes, 2022, FPS Economy, Belgium. French and Dutch editions. Authors: Flip Petillion, Jan Janssen, Diégo Noesen.

Competing for the internet. ICANN Gate – An Analysis and a plea for judicial review through arbitration, 2017, Kluwer. Authors: Flip Petillion and Jan Janssen.

EU Marks a Quarter of a Century, Intersentia Cambridge, 2022. Editor.

“Enforcing Intellectual Property Rights in the European Member States”, Intersentia Cambridge, 2019, Intersentia. Editor and author.

The implementation of IP Enforcement Directive 2004/48/EC in Belgium (Handhaving van intellectuele rechten in België / Respect des droit intellectuels en Belgique), 2017, Larcier. Editor and author.

Case Law overview on Intellectual Property, RABG (editions 2007-2021). Editor and author.

Case Law overview on Information Technology, RABG (editions 2017-2021). Editor and author.

Articles

“GDPR in Arbitration: A guide to GDPR Compliant Data Controlling and Processing in National and International Commercial Arbitration”, in VANDENBUSSCHE, W. (ED.), DE MEULEMEESTER, D. (ED.), FONCKE, V. (ED.), TACK, S. (ED.), Arbitrage, bemiddeling en andere vormen van conflictafhandeling: vandaag en morgen, Kluwer, 2023, 71-107. Authors: Flip Petillion and Jan Janssen.

“Greener Arbitrations: the role of arbitration institutions”, in The CEPANI & NAI Approach Towards Topical Trends in Arbitration, Kluwer, 2022, 87-104.

Arbitration and model texts for arbitrations, Modellen voor het bedrijfsleven, Kluwer (May, 2021).

Living-up to promises in Covid-19 Times – Advocating Force Majeure, Hardship and other concepts, petillion.law (May 2021). link

Litigation and enforcement in Belgium, Practical law, Thomson Reuters, January March 2021. link

Arbitration procedures and practice in Belgium, Practical law, Thomson Reuters, January 2021. link

Belgium chapter in S. ARNERSTÅL (ED.), International Trademark Licensing, Kluwer, 2021, 5-32. Authors: Flip Petillion, Jan Janssen, Diégo Noesen.

The Future of Arbitration – Identifying processes that could usefully be adopted in international commercial arbitration, ICCA 2018, Kluwer, (2020), 769-808.

Choosing an Arbitrator, Practical law, Thomson Reuters, 2019. link

Bifurcation of Disputes at Transaction Level, petillion.law (April 2018).

Dispute resolution in Belgium, Practical law, Thomson Reuters, 2018.

Legal Costs recovery. Special edition celebrating RABG’s 15th anniversary (2018).

Law Business Research Trademarks Law Review, Belgian Chapter.

Chambers & Partners Global Practice Guide 2018 on Telecom, Media & Technology (TMT), Belgian Chapter. Authors: Flip Petillion, Jan Janssen, Diégo Noesen.

Legal 500 Belgian Report on IP. Authors: Flip Petillion, Jan Janssen, Diégo Noesen.

The ICC Intellectual Property Roadmap. Current and Emerging Issues for Business and Policy Makers (13th Edition) (2017). Co-author.

“The UDRP road so far: successes”, Trademarks & Brands Online (November 2016). Co-author.

The composition of the arbitration tribunal, in Liber Amicorum Professor Michel Flamée, 2016.

The ICC Commission on Intellectual Property: Questionnaire on Specialized IP Jurisdictions (October 2016), Co-author.

Comment on the Madonna case related to the alleged copyright infringement and the song ‘Frozen’), Ingénieur Conseil (June 2016).

“Can self-regulation do the job?”, Trademarks & Brands Online (March 2016). Co-author.

List of older publications available on request

Education

Work Highlights

Arbitration

In a matter that lasted nearly three years, Flip handled the international commercial arbitration of a pricing dispute between the operator of a nuclear energy plant and a multinational manufacturer and high consumer of electricity. The arbitration was administered by a European arbitration organization of high repute.

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Telecommunications

Flip represented USWest International at the time of the incorporation of Telenet (Belgium’s first alternative telecommunications operator), a project that lasted from early 1995 to late 1996. Thereafter, Flip assisted Telenet in the preparation and implementation of its operations and services in the liberalized telecommunications framework. He negotiated the first interconnection agreement with Belgacom, the incumbent Belgian telecommunications operator, a contract that has since been used as the reference for such agreements. As the liberalization of the telecommunications sector spread, Flip was invited to negotiate many other interconnection agreements all over Europe.

Flip helped realize the liberalization of the telecommunications sector in Congo Brazaville in 1995-1997, a project that was supported by the World Bank. Working together with financial advisor N.M. Rothschild Bank, Flip rethought and put in place the new regulatory telecommunications framework, organized the procedure to search for investors and assisted the Office National des Postes et Télécommunication (ONPT) in the selection of its foreign investors.

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Internet

Flip has been at the forefront of arbitrations concerning Internet governance assigned to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

Flip’s team is representing Namecheap in an arbitration against ICANN on the lifting of price caps in the price for the registration of domain names in several TLDs.

Flip has been representing Vistaprint Ltd. in the landmark auction for .webs and .web organized by ICANN. Vistaprint won the right to operate .webs for just $1, while Verisign paid $135 million to operate .web. In this auction, the highest and lowest amounts ever were spent in the domain auction run by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

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Intellectual Property and anti-Competition

Flip successfully contested the validity of a patent for a well-known bread spread obtained by a manufacturer who was attempting to use it to illegally exclude competitors from the market, including Flip’s client Biscuiterie Willems, later on acquired by Lotus Bakeries.

Flip successfully contested the patent rights claimed by a U.S. pharmaceutical giant against Belgian Dafra Pharma.

Flip successfully contested the design rights claimed by a Swiss bus manufacturer against Belgian bus manufacturer Van Hool.

Flip obtained the recognition of sport legend Eddy Merckx’ name as a world-wide well-known famous trademark.

Languages Spoken

Dutch, English, French

Awards

Industry Sector Expertise

Flip has been handling complex court litigations and arbitrations for 35 years. Matters were related to the following industries: Antitrust and Competition, Art, Attachments, Automotive, Aviation and Aerospace, Banking and Finance, Construction, Engineering and Turnkey Projects, Defence Projects, Distribution, Agency and Franchising, Energy and Natural Resources, Fashion, Hospitality and Hotel Management, Information and Communication Technology, Insurance and Reinsurance, Intellectual Property, Internet, Investments, Joint Ventures, Consortia and Cooperation, Licensing, Maritime, Media, Broadcasting and Entertainment, Pharmaceuticals, Post Mergers and Acquisitions, Post Privatisation, Postal, Publishing, Sales and Purchases, Sports Law, Telecommunications, Transport.