Hellemans

Pauline Hellemans

Lead Lawyer
Brussels
About

Pauline Hellemans is a lawyer with over five years of experience in intellectual property, IT, data protection and commercial law. She assists Belgian and international clients in the public and private sector.

Pauline has extensive experience in advising and representing clients in:

  • intellectual property matters: drafting and negotiating license agreements; judicial trademark disputes, strategic advice on protection of business assets through intellectual property, assessment of trademark portfolio
  • information technology matters: representation in judicial dispute regarding the implementation of PaaS software, negotiating SaaS agreements, advice on use of open source software
  • data protection matters: representation of clients before the litigation chamber of the Belgian data protection authority, drafting GDPR compliance documents, notifying data breaches, advice on interpretation of the GDPR in complex situations
  • commercial law matters: advice in termination of commercial agency or sales concessionaire agreements, advice on price displays)
  • media law matters: advice on freedom of expression and slander
Areas of FocusIntellectual PropertyTechnologyConsumer Goods, Food and RetailMedia, Sport and Entertainment
Professional QualificationsAdvocate registered with the Nederlandse Orde van Advocaten bij de Balie te Brussel

EXPERIENCE

  • Assisted a global car manufacturer with its withdrawal from the Belgian and Luxemburg market by negotiating the termination of the agreements with all the car dealers protected under the specific Belgian sales concessionaire regime and the main Belgian importer.
  • Assisted a luxury German car manufacturer in a dispute regarding counterfeited cars sold by a Belgian car dealer and the use of (semi-)figurative trademarks for the promotion of the sale of authentic second-hand cars. We won this case and obtained an important precedent that the German car manufacturer can use in other jurisdictions.
  • Represented a business analytics software implementer in a judicial dispute with an international engineering and maintenance group regarding the agile implementation of CRM software. In this procedure a judicial expert was appointed to help the judge on the complex IT matters.
  • Represented an external social security service provider before the litigation chamber of the Belgian data protection authority. We won this case that sets an important precedent regarding the interaction between the GDPR and more specific national legislation.
  • Assisted a US fast food restaurant with the drafting and negotiating of its marketing agency agreement for the Belgian market. Especially the intellectual property clauses were important in this contract negotiation.
Languages
  • Dutch
  • French
  • English
Education

  • KU Leuven, LL.M in IP & ICT Law, 2021

  • UCLouvain, Master in law, 2018
  • Uantwerpen, Bachelor in law, 2016

Publications and media

  • P. Hellemans, “Gegevensbescherming in de Horeca. Hoe de eerste stappen zetten naar de naleving van de AVG?”, in B. Tilleman e.a. (eds.), Gastronomie & Recht, die Keure, December 2023.
  • B. Bruyndonckx, L. Kuyken, P. Hellemans, "De rechten van betrokkenen – overzicht van rechtspraak AVG 2018-nu”, Tijdschrift Privacy & Persoonsgegevens, 2 September 2022

Seminars

  • CPDP Computers, Privacy and Data Protection conference 2022, panelist, “GDPR for SMEs: An experience of the ARC project”, 24 May 2022
  • FEB/VBO, Les midis de la propriété intellectuelle, « Média sociaux et propriété intellectuelle : les pièges à éviter », 10 mai 2022 
  • Belgian Data Protection Authority seminar: Gegevensbescherming, ik maak er mijn zaak van!, “Transparantie in de AVG: een inleiding voor KMOs”, 21 March 2021

Prior Experience

  • 2019-2023, Associate, Brussels based Belgian full-service law firm
  • 2019-2022, Research assistant, Centre of IT & IP Law KU Leuven
  • 2018-2019, Associate, Antwerp based tech boutique law firm

Additional News

  • Teaching assistant at CiTiP KU Leuven
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Connect

Phone

+32 250 015 15
(Work, Brussels)
+32 499 968 791
(Mobile, Brussels)