JUVE Comment

The IP team at this firm in Vienna boasts a high profile in all areas of IP law and is especially strong in litigation. The team enjoys a particularly good reputation for its work in patent proceedings. Experienced litigator and name partner Georg Schönherr is the figurehead, but the broad-based team has renowned lawyers at all levels of seniority. The firm’s extensive presence in important cases before the Austrian IP courts only serves to underline this. Although the firm is still in the premier league when it comes to Austrian patent disputes, of late it has not quite managed to keep pace with Gassauer-Fleissner in pharmaceutical cases. Schwarz Schönherr could counter this development if its lawyers better honed their specialisation in patent litigation. Thomas Adocker, for example, has already made a name for himself in patent litigation. All of the firm’s lawyers, however, are comprehensively active in IP.

Strengths

Patent litigation.

Recommended individuals

Georg Schönherr (“designated litigator with many years of experience”, competitor), Thomas Adocker

Team

3 equity partners, 1 trainee lawyer, 1 associate in cooperation

Specialties

Trademarks, design law and fair trading. Patent law: infringement litigation, employee invention law and licences. IP due diligence in M&A transactions. Focus on the pharma and fashion sectors.

Clients

Litigation: Sandoz (defendant) against Genentech/Roche over cancer drug rituximabon; Baerlocher in preliminary injunction against Chemson over chemical composition of stabilisers; Green Creations on defence against infringement suit over window sills (incl. preservation of evidence); Becton Dickinson against B. Braun Melsungen over protective device for syringes. Advice: Rossi on licence for biodiesel production with BDI; Aquaslide on protection of know-how as part of R&D cooperation with Donauchem.