Experts in Business
Law and Strategy.
Your Guides in Data,
Markets, Technology
and Innovation.
Business Law.
To The Point.
EDSON is a team of outstanding business lawyers that you will enjoy working with. They know your day-to-day realities. They are entrepreneurial. They are curious. They care.
Business Law.
We provide hands-on and practical legal advice in matters that affect your commercial operations:
- Competition.
- Trade Practices and Advertising.
- Data Protection.
- Intellectual Property and Licensing.
- Procurement.
- Commercial Contracts.
- Corporate and Transactions.
- Regulatory Compliance and Litigation.
- Debt and Damages Recovery.
- Product Liability.
- AML Compliance.
- Export Compliance and International Sanctions.
We Understand Your Business.
Our firm is led by individuals who achieved success at leading national and international law firms, and have taught and researched at renowned law schools. In addition, some team members have taken on operational C-suite roles and executive Board positions in scale-ups, multinationals and trade associations. That is why we can support you better – because we understand business from the inside out.
For Companies, Entrepreneurs and Governments.
We work for established companies and scale-ups. For innovators creating a business from scratch. For government organizations. They all choose EDSON as trusted advisors that assist them throughout the lifecycle of their project. From contract negotiation to contract performance. From developing a business strategy to defending you and litigating in court. From drafting legislation to enforcement.
Brussels. Belgium. Europe. International.
EDSON is well-versed in strategic advice and high-stakes litigation in Belgium. We have a network of correspondent law firms throughout the EU. We have deep experience in EU law. Our work ranges from compliance advice over advocacy with EU lawmakers and officials to representing clients before the EU Court of Justice. Our firm also has capabilities of international law, and boast experts that are sought after by sovereign governments and correspondent law firms.
Entrepreneurial and Curious.
We embarked on the EDSON journey because we want to do things our way. Differently. Better. We believe in hard work – but even more in smart work. We believe in academic excellence – but even more in curiosity and creativity. We believe in diversity of ideas underpinned by unity of forces.
Making you successful in DMTI.
Whatever your industry, the law impacts your business. It defines how you can handle and leverage Data, Technology and Innovation. And it also impacts the openness and efficiency of the Markets that you operate in. Our unique DMTI approach creates value for your organization. We think of your business operation first, and then look at it from different legal angles.
What We Mean With DMTI.
We start from the way you run your operations. We look at Data, Markets, Technology and Innovation through a holistic and integrated lens – across different legal disciplines. This is in contrast to the traditional approach of working in stovepiped departments. At EDSON you won’t be speaking to the Antitrust department one day and to the Intellectual Property department the next. Instead, you will work with an integrated expert team that thinks business and gets the big picture.
The Four Pillars: Data, Markets, Technology, Innovation.
You don’t need to be in tech to be impacted by DMTI. Whether you’re in construction, healthcare, software, entertainment, agriculture, food, hospitality, real estate, and so on: you either use and procure Technology, or you commercialize it. You gain a competitive edge by being Innovative. You possess valuable Data that you want to protect – or monetize. And you want to have a level playing field in the Markets of interest to you. In other words: whatever area you are in, DMTI is your business capital.
Data.
Data is the new gold – so your organization should think of how to protect and manage it. We will help you to avoid the trap of only looking at your Data in a narrowed GDPR context. Instead, EDSON has an integrated approach to Data.
Data Is the New Gold.
Data fuels our economies – for digital and analog businesses alike. Don’t just think customer data. Think trends and insights, competitive intelligence, test data, open and government data. Think data that you receive from or pass on to your suppliers or customers. Think data that your staff and investors have access to. Data drives your business engine – do you know where and how it is flowing?
Data. GDPR, Data Act, Al Act, Cyber Resilience Act, NIS2 and beyond.
Data is a key asset to your business – you got that. That is why it is so important to have a holistic approach to data. Yes, the personal data protection angle is essential – but you should also consider other aspects. Another common pitfall is a focus on what GDPR does not allow you to do, rather than on freedom to operate. Instead, there is much more to data than just privacy. You want a general approach on data, and advice on how to reach your business goals whilst remaining compliant. This is where EDSON comes in.
An Integral Approach to Data.
EDSON uses an integrated Data Lifecycle Methodology (DLM) for business and government compliance advice and M&A/audit purposes, spanning across various areas of the law. When you get EDSON involved, we will audit and monitor all data flows above and beyond what is documented in the data room. We aspire to give you a TrueDiligence, not an ordinary due diligence.
Please contact us to hear more about our Data Lifecycle Methodology and our TrueDiligence service offering.
Markets.
We all like to believe that we live and work in well-functioning free market economies. But efficient markets don’t come for free.
Market Access / Free Movement.
Even today, many industries still have barriers to market access. Sometimes because of government regulations. Sometimes by behavior of competitors and economies of scale of incumbents. EDSON has proven experience in this debate and in strategies around unlocking markets vs protecting markets. And this in different industries, ranging from gaming and sports to public safety and defense.
Fair Competition / Regulation / Compliance.
A liberalized or single market is not an unregulated market. Actually, there is more regulation today than ever before in the history of mankind. First of all, EDSON assists you to map out applicable regulation (current or future). We help you to understand the impact on your operations. Second, EDSON assists market operators in designing compliant business processes. Finally, we also help you to take action against market operators that are not compliant. We do this in a multidisciplinary fashion, spanning across trade practices, antitrust, EU internal market legislation and state aid. One of our specific areas of expertise is the interaction between national and European law. We also assist national governments in these same areas. We apply this expertise across diverse sectors, including media and entertainment (inter alia covering book publishing, TV and radio, streaming, games of chance, video games and event ticketing), food and beverage, healthcare (pharmaceutical data and health tech) and real estate (land concessions, hospitality, smartworking).From navigating complex licensing and compliance issue to addressing consumer protection and cross-border regulations, our work ensures that businesses and governments alike can operate with clarity, confidence and fairness.
Corporate / Commercial Transactions.
EDSON assists its clients in complex commercial transactions and dealmaking (co-productions, co-developments, outsourcing, as well as distribution, agency or franchising agreements, and joint ventures). Our support doesn’t stop there. We guide organizations through their entire lifecycle, from fundraising, founding and corporate housekeeping all the way to strategic transactions. We have experience in (cross-border) acquisitions and investment/divestment transactions for small and midcap companies. We are also involved as co-counsel in large transactions given our in-depth understanding of specific markets (e.g., gaming, videogames, technology, defense and security).
An Integrated Approach.
We pride ourselves on cross-training our team in a variety of industries and legal disciplines. EDSON does not work with lawyers that focus on one specific area only – in contrast to conventional stovepiped law practices. As a result, we have a track record of winning arguments and creating groundbreaking precedent.
For instance, we have won a number of landmark cases before the EU Court of Justice. We successfully represented the Belgian government in a principle case on combatting social fraud – by developing an argument stemming from European tax law, and porting it to the entirely different discipline of social inspections. For the international (FIFPRO) and French (UNFP) professional football players association, we have obtained a landmark decision from the CJEU in proceedings against FIFA that has contributed to reshaping the international transfer system. In the field of unfair debanking practices, we have helped businesses recover their bank accounts, and we have successfully assisted organizations that were wrongfully made subject to international sanctions. But we don’t just focus on the big cases. We’ve also helped recover a debt that was previously outstanding for 3 years, in just 4 weeks after being mandated by our client. Through an innovative approach to accounting law that we ported to bankruptcy law.
EDSON likes thinking out of the box – don’t you?
Technology.
Our team features champions in tech law and strategic consulting. EDSON boasts professionals that have helped leading technology companies to grow and that have managed large operational teams and projects in executive, non-legal positions. That gives us a unique edge that you will not easily find with other firms.
Digitization.
There is no such thing anymore as the “new economy” and “old economy”. Today, every organization is digitizing at a fast pace. So whether your organization is on the provider side or on the buyer side: technology is key to you. So, we know you will inevitably require expert legal support for transactions that affect the core of your operations.
EDSON assists with expertise in IT contracts, including licensing and SLAs. We guide you through public and private procurement processes. Finally, we help structuring technology transfers and joint ventures. We do not only work for businesses. For instance, we have assisted a Eurasian sovereign national government in drafting its entire e-commerce legislation and ISP liability regime.
Disruption.
Technology is not just a tool. Technology has tremendous societal impact. Technology raises ethical questions and affects various fundamental and constitutional rights. Non-discrimination, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to conduct a business – just to name some. The founders of EDSON are experts in ISP, DSP and intermediary liability, and will help you navigate your business through questions of ethics and disruption.
Our fundamental and constitutional rights work has led us to assist a diversity of clients, including traders (wrongfully subjected to international sanctions), ticket resale platforms (limited in their freedom to do business by laws restricting such resale), religious groups (targeted by unlawful EU Member State procurement rules) and major software vendors (discriminated by legislation or administrative decisions favoring free and open source software).
Procurement.
EDSON’s team has first-hand experience in IT and technology contracts, both on the supplier and customer side. When it comes to public procurement, EDSON has specific expertise in assisting prime contractors (systems integrators) or suppliers (software vendors, subcontractors) with procurements by international organizations such, as NATO and Eurocontrol. This includes assistance of capture teams for UORs, RFIs and RFPs, frame agreement negotiations and dispute resolution.
We have also assisted in investigating the possibilities of sole-source contract awards and defending those in our out of court. We have for instance secured a major win for a company in the hospitality sector, that was awarded a leasehold on a strategic beachfront plot of land. We have also assisted in taking legal action against Member State procurement legislation and practices that ran foul of EU law by taking aim at specific religious groups.
Public Affairs and Advocacy.
EDSON has all the capabilities to allow tech companies to optimally function within today’s legal context. But giving compliance advice, writing terms of use or litigating contracts is one thing. Shaping the law of tomorrow is another. We assist trade associations, large corporations and even sovereign countries to develop holistic strategies to influence the lawmaking process. We lead or seamlessly integrate into multi-disciplinary advocacy teams. By operating on the intersection between law and business operations, EDSON’s legal input and executive management experience lead to tangible results.
Innovation.
Clients have come to us for conventional IP matters such as patent, trademark and copyright litigation. They have gradually entrusted us with the full lifecycle management of their Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs). And clients stay with us because we don’t just look at their IPRs – we help them to optimize their business operations and to monetize their Intellectual Capital.
Capturing Your Intellectual Capital.
Innovation is the fruit of humankind’s intellect. It is all about leveraging intellectual capital to create or improve products, services and processes. EDSON helps you to map your organization’s intellectual capital. We have carried out Intellectual Property audits, analyzed the impact of upcoming regulatory changes, and designed and helped enforcing innovation policies and programs – either within an organization or across the value chain of suppliers and service providers.
Managing and Enforcing Intellectual Property Rights.
Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) are at the heart of any organization’s Innovation operations. EDSON’s lawyers have expertise in Copyright, Database Rights, Trademarks, Designs, and Patents. Of note is our unique insight into the IPR aspects of software and multimedia, anchored in expert legal knowledge and in deep industry understanding based on 10+ years of C-level experience in the software business. EDSON assists its clients with freedom-to-operate and infringement analyses, pre-emptive evidence gathering and offensive and defensive court actions.
Protection of Know-How and Trade Secrets.
Protecting your confidential or secret information is a concerted effort. It involves strong security processes, technical protection measures, and clear and enforceable policies and contracts. And it involves smart use of legal tools. EDSON is appreciated for being a part of this concerted effort. We are at ease adopting a multi-disciplinary approach, combining our expertise in Litigation, Antitrust, Trade Practices, Intellectual Property and Government Contracts with experts in forensics, criminal law and international trade. Of note is our know-how and trade secrets insight in discrete industries and NATO procurements.
Optimizing your Business Model.
Did you know that your business can be strongly impacted by how you, your competitors or your suppliers commercially package and license certain products and innovations? EDSON advises its clients on Intellectual Property strategies that affect aftermarkets, vendor ecosystems and bid teams in RFPs.
“Success is not a coincidence.
It is hard work, perseverance,
learning, studying, sacrifice
and most of all,
love for what you do.”
Edson Arantes do Nascimento