JUVE Comment

The German patent team of this international litigation firm remains one of the most visible in the market, especially for disputes concerning electronics and mobile communications. The team’s intensive and long-standing litigation work for Google and its recent defence of Netflix against claims over streaming patents underscore this work at the top of the German market.

However, the German team has significantly broadened its technical focus over the past year, achieving a decisive breakthrough in life sciences. For a long time, Quinn Emanuel had failed to keep pace with the market-leading life sciences teams at firms such as Hogan Lovells or Freshfields. Now, the team has seen such high-profile cases as Samsung Bioepis regarding Eylea, Halozyme concerning Keytruda, and Element Biosciences against Illumina concerning DNA sequencing technology.

Litigation for clients such as Doosan Bobcat over compact excavators or Tulip regarding lithium-ion battery technology further rounds off the technically diverse litigation activities at both the national level and the UPC.

The team has recently also undergone a transition in its partnership. While founding member Johannes Bukow has moved to an of counsel role, he remains active in litigation. In parallel, the firm promoted Andreas Hahne to equity partner and Andreas Duensing to non-equity partner, expanding its powerful line-up of young German partners in the second rank.

However, senior partner Marcus Grosch remains at the center of the practice’s activities in Germany. The challenge now is to help the younger partners achieve similar visibility to secure the team’s strong position within the global partnership in the long term.

Strengths

Litigation related to telecoms and medical devices. Opposition and nullity suits by lawyers without patent attorneys. Strong US practice.

Recommended individuals

Johannes Bukow (“thorough and goal-oriented”, competitor), Andreas Duensing (“excellent in the courtroom”, client), Marcus Grosch (“an excellent litigator, very impressive in the courtroom”, client), Jérôme Kommer (“the consistency with which he delivers high-quality advice is impressive”, competitor), Jesko Preuß

Team

55 lawyers

Clients

Litigation: Netflix against Broadcom and DiVX over video streaming; Google against OnaPatents over locating technology; Niantic against K.Mizra over near-field communication regarding video game Pokémon Go; Fresenius Medical Care against Nipro over dialyser patent; Samsung Bioepis against Regeneron and Bayer over biosimilar of ophthalmic drug aflibercept/Eylea; Halozyme against Merck Sharp-Dhome over cancer drug pembrolizumab/Keytruda; Element Bioscience against Illumina over DNA sequencing technology; Doosan Bobcat against Caterpillar over compact excavators; Maxeon against Aiko over back-contact solar cell and module patents (settled in 2026); Tulip against Nissan-Group over lithium-ion battery technology; Bissell against Carl Freudenberg in EPO opposition over cleaning machines. Frequent litigation for Qualcomm.