JUVE Comment

Offering advice on all IP matters, often on the interface with commercial, IT and corporate, the IP team of this full-service firm is well positioned in the French market. With this broad approach, the firm advises its chiefly midsized clients on patent litigation as well as unfair competition or contract law. The team represented Japanese manufacturer Hoya in a nullity suit against Alcon over technology for cataract surgical operations. De Gaulle Fleurance bolstered its IP practice with three lawyers, two of whom bring experience in patent litigation.

European set-up

Like many independent national firms, de Gaulle Fleurance has an informal network with various firms in key patent locations such as Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK. Some of them are highly renowned in patents, but the firm competes with other independent national teams for such alliances. Despite a number of international instructions, de Gaulle Fleurance’s IP team has not achieved the cross-border visibility of other national full-service firms who are seen far more often in pan-European patent litigation, such as Gide. This hinders the firm’s position when it comes to litigation at the UPC. German firm Eisenführ Speiser is responsible, for example, for coordinating the nullity proceedings in Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium and Austria in the dispute between Hoya and Alcon.

Recommended individuals

Francine Le Péchon-Joubert

Team

15 lawyers

Specialties

IP practice within a full-service firm with a broad setup. Patent litigation, employee invention rights, FTO and trade secrets, as well as IP advice on transactions.

Clients

Litigation: Hoya Surgical (claimant) against Alcon over device for cataract surgical operations (public knowledge); B&F (claimant) against Cofrasud over transporting device for racks; Tyron Runflat (defendant) against Hutchinson over automotive wheels; building materials manufacturer (defendant) against inventor of manufacturing solution for low-carbon cement.