JUVE Comment

The large IP team of this French full-service firm is a challenger to market leaders. Thierry Mollet-Viéville and Thomas Cuche have had excellent names for representing notable companies in high-profile patent disputes for many years. The other three partners, on the other hand, are not yet on the market’s radar.

In the proceedings between Xiaomi and IPCom, Mollet-Viéville advised the Chinese telecommunications company as defendant. Duclos Thorne Mollet-Viéville is also often seen in high-stakes, complex pharma proceedings. Cuche is currently advising a US originator in a pan-European battle over an HIV drug. The team is thus firmly established in two key patent litigation fields. But it also advises in other areas of technology, including automotive, medical devices and electronics.

Like competitors with similar setups such as Gide, the team at Duclos Thorne Mollet-Viéville is large enough to handle a multitude of – sometimes complex – simultaneous proceedings for notable international clients.

Strengths

Litigation related to electronics, mechanics and pharmaceuticals.

European strategy

The firm boasts a network of long-standing contacts among firms in key European patent locations, such as Germany, the UK, Spain and Italy – among them national firms and the IP teams of international firms without their own patent practice in France.

Duclos Thorne Mollet-Viéville generates much international work through referrals. But for the complex patent disputes, which are increasingly conducted across Europe, especially in the pharma and telecoms sectors, Duclos Thorne Mollet-Viéville competes with similar national IP practices for referrals from the same foreign firms.

Recommended individuals

Thierry Mollet-Viéville (“excellent”, competitor), Thomas Cuche

Team

5 partners, 6 associates

Specialties

All-round IP activity with a strong focus on patent litigation and advice on licences, patent strategy and trade secrets.

Clients

Litigation: Hutchinson (claimant) against Tyron Runflat and Global Wheel over wheel inflation system; Brahms (claimant) against Beckman Coulter over procedures for detecting infections; Xiaomi (defendant) against IPCom over FRAND (all public knowledge); US originator (defendant) against competitor over HIV drug.