JUVE Comment

This mixed patent litigation practice has maintained its position among the German market leaders for years. The well-established team conducts high-calibre litigation for numerous clients across a broad technical spectrum. Hogan Lovells was again highly active in various mobile communications proceedings. A team recently successfully defended HMD against several lawsuits filed by Huawei at Munich Regional Court.

Its positioning with Chinese implementers such as Oppo, Xiaomi and, more recently, Hisense is particularly impressive. Even outside mobile phone lawsuits, Hogan Lovells now has a strong presence representing Asian companies. Its traditionally good connections with the Korean LG Group resulted in work from the NPE Tulip concerning battery technology. Tulip essentially manages LG Chemical’s battery patents. The instruction from Chinese car manufacturer BYD against Sol IP also underscores this strength.

In comparison, Hogan Lovells has recently been less visible in court for pharmaceutical originators. This is a trend that other law firms have also noticed recently due to fewer proceedings in the industry. Nevertheless, the team advises regular clients such as Eli Lilly, MSD and Roche on potential market entries by biosimilar or generic drug manufacturers. Hogan Lovells is compensating for the current dip in pharmaceutical litigation business with an impressive track record in medical devices, such as representing Meril against Edwards in one of the largest pan-European patent disputes.

As the patent attorney team is now not only intensively involved in mobile communications cases, but also works for clients such as Meril, Hogan Lovells has expanded the team to include another partner. With 13 partners (both patent attorneys and lawyers), the team is larger than most of its competitors and is already preparing for the generational change to younger partners that is foreseeable in a few years. Behind them, a third generation of young counsel who are also active in the market is already following in their footsteps, including Oliver Bäcker, Markus Kuczera and Dania Esser. However, the decisive factor for the long-term generational change will be whether partners such as Henrik Lehment develop the international presence and rainmaker qualities of Andreas von Falck.

European set-up

The large international law firm has a fully integrated international patent litigation practice with market-leading teams in many important UPC locations, as well as in the UK. Like competitors Bird & Bird or Taylor Wessing, Hogan Lovells has deployed cross-border teams in pan-European proceedings for years. The firm is now continuing this strategy at the UPC, as demonstrated by the representation of long-standing client Meril in the currently most intensive battle at the UPC against Edwards Lifesciences. Xiaomi also relied on Hogan Lovells in the now settled high-profile lawsuit brought by Panasonic before both national courts and the UPC.

Thanks to numerous new instructions, Hogan Lovells’ international patent team is now one of the most active law firms at the UPC. It has thus narrowed the initial gap to Bardehle Pagenberg, Taylor Wessing and Bird & Bird. Hogan Lovells is involved in proceedings across a wide range of technologies, but disputes over digital communications and IT still dominate.

In recent months, Hogan Lovells’ UPC team has also impressed new clients such as Chinese car manufacturer BYD, Hisense and HMD. The firm’s European teams now work very consistently together on such cases, which usually also includes the German patent attorney practice. However, it is the German partners who have often taken the lead in UPC cases. Only in a few instances do partners from other European offices take the lead. For example, the Amsterdam team is leading for Yealink and Aiko.

Recommended individuals

Martin Fähndrich (“outstanding, excellent colleague”, competitor), Andreas von Falck (“a real artist who has mastered the entire palette of European patent litigation”, client), Miriam Gundt (“very good pharma litigator”, client), Alexander Klicznik (“highly competent, both legally and technically”, competitor), Henrik Lehment (“stands out with his consistently high quality advice”, “very impressive”, competitors), Clemens Plassmann, Steffen Steininger (“quickly recognises technical problems and their urgency”, competitor),Benjamin Schröer, Christian Stoll (“calm and agreeable, knows how to make convincing arguments”, competitor); patent attorney: Andreas Schmid 

Team

45 lawyers (4 of whom are dual qualified), 11 patent attorneys

Clients

Litigation: HMD against Huawei over 4G and 5G patents; HMD against VoiceAge over speech coding technology; BYD against Sol IP over mobile communication SEPs; Amazon against Huawei over wi-fi technology (settled 2025); Amazon against Nokia/Alcatel over video coding (settled 2025); Xiaomi against Panasonic over SEPs (settled 2025); Oppo against Philips over mobile communications; Tulip against against Sunwoda over car batteries; Intex Recreation against Bestway over manufacturing process for rubber boats and pools; Meril Life Sciences against Edwards Lifesciences over heart valves; Roche against generics over second medical use of caner drug Herceptin/trastuzumab.