Hugues is Deputy Director General of the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP) since 2008. In this position, he is at the head of all business activities of the BOIP, including supervision of the Registration Department (trade marks, designs, i-Depots), Department of Legal Affairs and Department of Information & Promotion. His responsibilities also include revision of the Benelux legislation, as well as international and European cooperation.
He previously worked as an attorney-at-law for six years and was a member of the Brussels Bar. His practice was focused on commercial law, more particularly trade practices, intellectual property, corporate and distribution law. He moved then to the trade industry and joined, as Managing Director, a company active worldwide in production and sale of promotional items.
Hugues holds a Law Degree from the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium (1994), a postgraduate degree (LL.M.) in Economic Law from the Vrije Universiteit te Brussel, Belgium (1996), and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of San Diego, California, USA (2002).
Hugues is a member of AIPPI, ECTA and BMM and member of the redaction committee of ICIP-L’Ingénieur Conseil / Intellectual Property.