Laura van Gijn

Laura van Gijn

IP & Advertising

Partner | Attorney-at-law

Laura van Gijn is one of the co-heads of the Tech Team at De Roos and has been a partner at the firm since 2018. She specializes in intellectual property law, advertising law, privacy law and media law, and brings over 17 years of experience.

Laura started her career in 2007 at Klos Morel Vos & Schaap (at the time ranked as Chambers Band 1 Intellectual Property Netherlands), a top-tier firm specializing in intellectual property law and advertising law, where she handled various high-profile cases. After 7 years at that firm, she joined De Roos in February 2015.

Laura is a highly experienced specialist in all aspects of classic intellectual property law (copyright law, trademark law, trade name law, database law, design law), both in and outside of court.

Further, Laura is known for her broad experience in advertising law, particularly concerning sustainability claims. She and her team have successfully litigated high-profile greenwashing cases against, among others, Primark, Shell, and Arla. Laura is also keen to advise companies on how to get it right, and how to authentically communicate about sustainability efforts. Next to that, Laura has gained extensive experience around GDPR compliance, assisting clients with practical GDPR advice and strategic GDPR litigation. Since the Digital Services Act entered into force, Laura has helped numerous clients with their DSA compliance and has used the DSA as a tool for handling IP infringement cases.

Laura often works on multidisciplinary files, where her specializations intertwine with other legal fields. She also works closely with our IT team, the M&A teams, our tax department, and our litigation department. In ESG-related matters, she also cooperates with Sjoerd Lopik (Partner and head of regulatory and criminal enforcement matters at De Roos).

Through secondment projects to (international) e-commerce, affiliate marketing, and media and entertainment companies, Laura has also gained solid in-house experience within these sectors.

Laura regularly publishes articles in legal journals on various topics. She is often sought by journalists for her expert opinion. Laura is also regularly invited to speak at ESG-related congresses (e.g., at the B for Good Leaders Summit 2024, Pakhuis de Zwijger).

Recent publications by Laura in professional journals:

Recent work by Laura:
  • Guiding funding rounds of ‘IP-heavy’ growth companies
  • Trademark infringement by AdWord use and/or Dynamic Keyword Insertion
  • (Re)structuring of intellectual property, intercompany transfer and license back agreements
  • Infringement of trademark and copyrights via social media channels
  • Opposition proceedings at the BOIP and EUIPO
  • License Agreements
  • Liability for platforms with user generated content;
  • Hijacking of domain and app names
  • Strategic advice on privacy compliance
  • Advising on food labelling
  • Advising on misleading advertising and (anti-) greenwashing
  • Advising on legislation regarding the use of online reviews
  • Handling complaints at the Dutch Advertising Code Committee
  • Drafting general terms and conditions.
Laura in the media:
VPRO Tegenlicht – episode ‘Uit de Kleren’
NOS, regarding Primark case
Follow the Money, regarding Primark case
NRC, in column about copyright case
VU (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) Incretus podcast, about greenwashing
BNR radio interview privacy law

Practice areas:
Laura has registered intellectual property law as her legal practice area in the Netherlands Bar’s register of legal practice areas (rechtsgebiedenregister), which requires one to obtain ten training credits annually in the registered legal practice area, in accordance with the standards set by the Netherlands Bar.

Thoughts

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