IP Attorney Switzerland

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legal issues in the digital space

Intellectual property, data, artificial intelligence, blockchain and digital.

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  • Praised for his flexible and innovative approach and quality services. His ability to combine academic and practical approach earns him credit with clients

    Who’s who legal Switzerland

  • He works rapidly, providing quick, pragmatic advice with a short turnaround. The more complicated an issue is, the more invested he gets. An active listener, he proposes reasonably priced and innovative options and is extremely interested in resolving issues to the best interest of his client. Philippe is the perfect lawyer with which to develop […]

    WTR1000

  • “He has a really impressive academic background. He is solid in terms of technical knowledge, and very flexible in the ways he provides his services to the company. He tries to understand what works for us, rather than relying on templates he has used before”

    Chambers Europe

  • Very responsive, practical, efficient and highly impressive in his ability to deliver a quality work product to a tight deadline. He has an amazing work ethic, business-oriented mindset and creative approach, and can skilfully navigate complex legal issues. Philippe is also a great listener, which means he is quick to understand the clients’ needs and […]

    WTR1000

  • A hard-working, fast, active listener, business-oriented, extremely competent lawyer that will find a solution whatever the problem

    WTR1000

  • He offers spot- on opinions, a real ability to understand our business context and to propose suitable solutions to our various trademark issues

    WTR1000

  • He provides comprehensive advice that contains answers to potential concerns in ancillary disciplines. He can manoeuvre through tricky situations with ease and looks for solutions that fits the needs of every business in a pragmatic, creative and cost-efficient manner. He will, without hesitation, dig into jurisprudence, doctrine and if push comes to shove, even use […]

    WTR1000

  • A highly regarded IP lawyer, his knowledge and sharp intelligence are highlighted by sources

    Chambers Europe

  • Outstanding

    Chambers Europe

  • Brilliant legal mind

    WTR1000

  • An exceptionally bright lawyer

    Who’s who legal Switzerland

News

Talks

You shall find here the latest talks I have delivered (Sept. 2024 – April 2025)

  • Intellectual Property: Christmas is coming to town! (InnoCube, Neuchâtel, 6 décembre 2024)



My planned talks for the forthcoming months are the following ones (status April 2025):

  • 19 May 2025: Influencers: pitfalls and best practices (table topic) (INTA Annual Meeting, San Diego)
  • 17 June 2025: Externalisation des données de santé et secret professionnel (HESAV, Lausanne)
  • 12 September 2025: Correlation between requirements for and scope of protection in IP Law (INGRES, Zurich)

Services

I practice as a partner at BMG Avocats, based in Geneva, Switzerland (www.bmglaw.ch), where I offer cutting-edge legal expertise in intellectual property, digital law, artificial intelligence, FinTech and data protection.

Intellectual Property – examples

• Successful defense of a watch manufacturer against a company selling look alike products with a different word mark on the bezel.
• Successful defense of a watch manufacturer against numerous websites selling counterfeits through a single legal action in civil court.
• Successful defense of a watch manufacturer against a company selling products reproducing the iconic brand’s essential features.
• Successful defense before the Federal Institute of Intellectual Property against a provisional refusal related to a key trademark for the client’s luxury goods portfolio.
• Successful defense before the Federal Institute of Intellectual Property of a trademark registration that had been provisionally refused, calling into question the branding strategy implemented for many years by the client, active in the food sector.
• Strategy to protect a appgame downloaded over 100 million times and defend the publisher against clones.
• Implementation of processes and workflows within a company active in the luxury industry to assess if and when performing rights societies come into play and what the applicable tariffs are.

Digital law – examples

• Successful defense of a software providing licensing its products under the Apache2.0 license against a fork.
• Due diligence as part of an acquisition of a software development company with regard to components released under Open Source licenses.
• More than 100 domain name disputes.
• Advice to a luxury goods company on setting up a YouTube channel and related copyright issues.
• Advice to a marketing company on advertising windows.

Technology transactions – examples

• Support provided to an FMCG company in the renewal of its Microsoft Master Agreement and related licenses for five years, with a total value in excess of USD 1,000,000,000.
• Support provided to an FMCG company in its negotiations to have a master telecommunication services agreement executed, with a total value in excess of USD 500,000,000.
• Support provided to a public entity in its negotiations with Oracle (with a total value in excess of CHF 10’000’000).
• Support provided to various companies in their negotiations with IT providers such as: Microsoft, Salesforce, Oracle, SAP.
• Support provided to various companies in their negotiations with marketing agencies, such as: Publicis, Ogilvy, McCann.
• Over 500 IT contracts of all kinds reviewed or negotiated (mainly on the customer side) with service providers of all sizes.
• Setting up for a public entity of model IT contracts (SaaS, license, professional services, maintenance).
• Drafting of all kinds of general terms and conditions for websites, applications and Internet business models of all kinds.
• Drafting for a company active in the luxury industry of NFT agreements.

Data Protection – examples

• Setting up for an FMCG company of intra-group data transfer agreements.
• Setting up for a company active in the security sector of intra-group data transfer agreements.
• Member as external consultant of the taskforce set up by an FMCG company to implement the GDPR in workflows and processes (audit passed with success).
• Member as external consultant of the taskforce set up by a company active in the household appliances sector to implement the GDPR in workflows and processes.
• Legal support provided to public hospitals in their contractual discussions with IT providers involving the outsourcing of health-related data.
• Gap analysis and set up of privacy management programs for a public entity as well as numerous SMEs.

Artificial Intelligence – examples

• Comparative legal assessment provided to a medical company on the less risky jurisdiction to carry out R&D involving data scraping to train an algorithm to improve the quality of hearing aids.
• Drafting of a GenAI policy meant to be followed by the engineers of a tech-related company when using GitHub Copilot.
• Drafting of a GenAI policy meant to be followed by the marketing team of company in the luxury industry.
• Consultation by a banking institution on the use of GitHub Copilot by its IT teams, the resulting risks and the best way to mitigate them.
• Drafting for an FMCG company of an AI addendum concerning notably the use of GenAI tools by its external marketing agencies.