The Intellectual Property Office
... in 2024
The Intellectual Property Office (IPObel)
IPObel is part of the Federal Public Service Economy, SMEs, Self-employed and Energy and more specifically the Directorate-General for Economic Regulation.
IPObel has jurisdiction over all intellectual property matters in Belgium.
Get to know us!
IPObel in a Few Figures
1,057 Belgian patent applications filed
1,089 Belgian patents granted
54 applications for supplementary protection certificates filed
47 supplementary protection certificates granted
109,451 European patents designating Belgium granted
4 plant variety certificates granted
4,454 payment orders processed
Discover all the figures!
IPObel Finances
Increased Revenues
In its capacity as the Belgian Intellectual Property Office, IPObel’s revenues are obtained from the processing and maintenance fees relating to patent applications, supplementary protection certificates and plant variety rights.
Find out how our revenues changed from 2020 to 2024.
IPObel and Industrial Property
First Case Pleaded before the Unified Patent Court in Brussels on December 6, 2024
A local branch of the UPC has been established in the buildings of the FPS Economy in Brussels. This gives Belgian companies, SMEs, universities and research institutions local access to this new court. The local division in Brussels works with the following four procedural languages: English, Dutch, French and German.
IPObel and Copyright
In terms of copyright and related rights, 2024 was above all a year of implementation of various measures to implement the law of 19 June 2022 transposing the DSM 2019/790 directive.
IPObel and the Belgian Presidency of the European Union
Belgium assumed the Presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2024.
IPObel and Raising Awareness
User Guide for the Belgian System of Patents and Supplementary Protection Certificates
This guide provides applicants and their representatives (patent agents and lawyers) with an overview of the legal, regulatory and practical aspects of the procedures at the Belgian Intellectual Property Office regarding application, publication, grant, maintenance of patents and supplementary protection certificates in Belgium.
It contains a toolbox with an overview of the procedure for granting a Belgian patent, as well as a series of practical checklists for preparing and filing a Belgian patent application and for drafting requests for improvement, amendment or invalidity.
Prediagnostic Service for Intellectual Property
Which intellectual property rights (IPR) does your business own? Are those rights protected? If not, is it possible to protect them? How much will it cost? What are the advantages of protecting IPR? What are the risks of not registering IPR?
Those are questions you may not have the answers to. The IP prediagnostic service, offered and subsidised by the Intellectual Property Office (IPObel), can answer all your questions about IPR.
Contact Point
In 2024, IPObel’s Contact Point dealt with 1,587 questions from businesses and citizens in addition to the 379 questions directly answered by the FPS Economy’s Contact Center.
In addition, 13 IP consultation days on intellectual property took place all over Belgium.
To contact IPObel
The Contact Center is at your service every working day from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
It is the single point of contact to communicate with the FPS Economy.
Tel.: 0800 120 33
E-mail : info.eco@economie.fgov.be
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