JUVE Comment

This national full-service firm is one of the main challengers to the French market leaders in patent litigation. The renowned partner-centric team has an exceptional reputation for litigating pharma cases, the domain of Raphaëlle Dequiré-Portier and Jean-Hyacinthe de Mitry. Notable pharma companies – both originators and generics manufacturers – bank on the team. For example, Gide litigated for Sanofi in a patent infringement claim against Mylan concerning a biosimilar of the drug Lantus. The Paris team played a key role in the pan-European dispute as the market authorisation was granted for the biosimilar for Mylan’s French subsidiary. The team is also able to handle more extensive instructions thanks to its headcount, which is large for the French market. One example is the team led by Grégoire Triet which handled injunction proceedings for regular client Johnson & Johnson against Sandoz over an SPC. Besides pharma and life sciences, Gide added the mobile communications sector, which is seeing more and more disputes before the French courts, to its client base. In this area, however, the firm is still in the early stages and other French litigation teams have been more visible in the cases heard in France so far.

Strengths

Representation of originator and generic drugs manufacturers in pharmaceutical cases.

European strategy

Although Gide also has its own offices in London and Brussels in Europe, the firm does not advise on IP from these locations. Instead, it maintains close but non-exclusive contacts with various law firms, mainly in Germany, the UK and the Netherlands. In the cross-border patent dispute between Sanofi and Mylan, for example, Gide works closely with the German IP boutique Arnold Ruess on the originator manufacturer’s side. In addition, there is a long-standing cooperation with its similarly independent German firm Gleiss Lutz, through which Gide rarely advises clients on patent-related issues, but more often on soft IP. Similar to other traditional French law firms such as Casalonga, Gide relies primarily on a best friends network with teams that are sought-after cooperation partners.

Recommended individuals

Jean-Hyacinthe de Mitry, Raphaëlle Dequiré-Portier (“very good lawyers with excellent strategic skills”, competitor about both), Grégoire Triet, Emmanuel Larere (“very good team with extensive experience”, competitor about both)

Team

5 partners, 11 associates, 1 of counsel

Specialties

Strong focus on litigation in patents, especially pharma, biotech and life sciences. Strategic advice on trade secrets concerning saisie-contrefaçon.

Clients

Litigation: Beckman Coulter (defendant) against Brahms over diagnostics technology; Celltrion (defendant) against Genetech; Biogen and Hoffman La Roche over rituximab (revocation action) and herceptin (infringement proceedings); Curis (claimant) against INPI over refusal to grant an SPC related to sonidegib; Ethypharm (claimant) against AstraZeneca in nullity action over esomeprazole; Guerbet (defendant) against Bayer in nullity suit (invalidity) over contrast agents for medical imaging; Johnson & Johnson and G. D. Searle (defendants) against Sandoz over validity of darunavir.