JUVE Comment

With a strong presence for patent litigation across a broad technical spectrum, this Düsseldorf-based IP boutique is one of the German market leaders. Thanks to the reputations of Thomas Musmann and Max von Rospatt in litigation for innovator pharma companies, the boutique frequently plays in the top league for pharma and biotech proceedings. They act for Biogen in the dispute over its blockbuster multiple sclerosis drug Tecfidera and its Humira biosimilar Imraldi. The firm also acts for originator Illumina in the international dispute over DNA sequencing technology.

At the same time, the electronics and mobile communications team, led by Hetti Hilge and Henrik Timmann earned considerable attention for representing Samsung in what is currently one of Europe’s largest SEP disputes against ZTE. In this lead case, Rospatt works alongside A&O Shearman and Zimmermann & Partner. The Rospatt litigators have a long-standing and well-established relationship with the patent attorneys at Zimmermann & Partner working on behalf of Samsung.

Rospatt furthermore demonstrated its strong standing in this hi-tech litigation by securing new instructions from Disney in a major streaming patent dispute, and from Duksan over OLED display materials.

Besides the work in life sciences and hi-tech, Rospatt’s true strength lies in its deep connections within the German court system and strong relationships with numerous patent attorney firms, ensuring a steady flow of instructions across a broad technical spectrum.

Many current proceedings, including those for XSYS concerning printing technology, for Igus regarding power line protection technology, and the Samsung versus ZTE dispute, are being conducted simultaneously before national patent courts and the UPC. This secures Rospatt a solid presence at the European court, also in its traditional stronghold of electronics and mobile communications. A second instruction from core client Samsung followed the ZTE case with the defence against NPE Fingon’s suit over computer security technology. However, the firm’s current largest case at the UPC relates to chemicals, assisting BASF in a revocation case concerning sandwich panels for buildings. Thus, Rospatt is now catching up with other boutiques such as Bardehle Pagenberg and Kather Augenstein, which have been very active at the UPC from the outset. If its high-profile pharmaceutical originator clients begin to utilise the UPC more frequently for litigation against generics or biosimilar manufacturers, Rospatt could gain significant ground over these two competitors.

Strengths

Strong in litigation concerning pharmaceuticals and mobile communications patents, strong international contacts.

Recommended individuals

Hetti Hilge, Markus Lenßen, Thomas Musmann, Rüdiger Pansch, Max von Rospatt, André Sabellek (“highly professional and solution-oriented”, “outstanding, particularly in UPC cases”, competitors), Henrik Timmann (“best litigator for our case”, client)

Team

18 lawyers

Clients

Litigation: Biogen and Samsung Bioepis against Fresenius Kabi over Humira/adalinumab biosimilar; Biogen against various generic drug manufacturers over multiple sclerosis drug Tecfidera/dimethylfumarate; Illumina against Element Bioscience over DNA sequencing technology; Disney against Huawei over video streaming; Samsung against ZTE over mobile communications and FRAND; Samsung against Fingon over security features in mobile communications devices; LG Display against Tianma and Xiaomi over displays for handsets; Duksan against Lenovo and Motorola over OLED display materials; Pupil Labs against Tobii over eye-tracking devices; Pump Technology Solutions against Quanxing Machining Group over automotive supplier technology.