JUVE Comment

One of the challengers to the market-leading patent litigation practices in France, the Paris litigation team at Hogan Lovells is small with just four litigators. This is especially true when compared with the two market leaders August Debouzy and Hoyng ROKH Monegier. The exceptional visibility of lead partner Stanislas Roux-Vaillard, however, makes up for this disadvantage. The young team in this international firm also benefits from a steady stream of high-end clients from the global patent practice’s excellent network

This was evidenced this year when the Paris team was hired alongside Hogan Lovells litigators from Germany and the UK to defend Oppo against Nokia’s mobile communications suits as part of a global battle over a new SEP licensing agreement. In this segment, the team positions itself on the side of implementers. The team also has a strength in disputes over pharmaceutical and biotechnological drugs on the side of originators. Litigation for Eli Lilly regarding cancer drug pemetrexed remains a central instruction, where the team worked hand in hand with practices from other countries. As a rule, the Paris litigators handle cross-border cases for clients such as Astronics regarding aircraft seats, and GE Renewable Energies with Hogan Lovells teams from other jurisdictions. However, their work is often limited to French proceedings.

Independent work, such as that for a European pharma corporation or a French mobile communications company, is rare. But the latter shows the team has built up stronger contacts of its own to companies originating from France. More such cases would raise the practice’s clout within the European practice and put it within touching distance of the two market-leading practices August Debouzy and Hoyng ROKH Monegier.

Strengths

Integrated cross-border patent litigation, especially in the pharma and mobile communications sectors.

European set-up

Hogan Lovells has a truly cross-border litigation team. Between Paris, Amsterdam, London, Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Munich it is homogeneous. This is reflected in its international presence in important pharmaceutical, mobile communications and electronics cases. Just how well integrated the Paris team is into such cross-border cases (although the lead role is generally played by German or UK partners) is demonstrated by its activity for GE Renewable Energy, in the pemetrexed battle for Eli Lilly and the defence work for Oppo against Nokia.

Hogan Lovells is present at all relevant potential UPC locations, as well as boasting a strategic position in London. In Germany, the firm belongs to the leading teams in the market. In France, the Netherlands and the UK the firm is a fierce challenger of the market-leading firms. The practice has a smaller, but also very well-established team in Milan, recently strengthened with a second partner promotion. With this set-up and its strong ties to the US, the European Hogan Lovells patent practice has a very good starting position to play a leading role at the UPC. This is also helped by the mixed approach of the German team.

With this set-up in the European patent practice, it is not a question of whether the Paris team will be involved in UPC cases in partnership with the other European teams, but rather whether it can keep up with the German and UK partners to take the lead in some cases. To build up more weight within the European group, it will have to grow and establish a second partner alongside Stanislas Roux-Vaillard. The rising market visibility of the associates in the team can only be helpful.

Recommended individuals

Stanislas Roux-Vaillard (“he’s one of the best. I’d choose him every time”, client; “he is brilliant and pleads very well”, competitor), Adrien Bonnet (“very good work for his clients from the aviation and electronics sector”, competitor)

Team

4 lawyers

Specialties

Patent litigation with broad technical expertise. Strong focus on pharmaceutical disputes for originators, as well as for implementers in the telecommunications sector. Large, international client base. Very active in cross-border litigation.

Clients

Litigation: Eli Lilly (claimant) against Zentiva and Mylan over cancer drug pemetrexed (public knowledge); Icos (defendant) against Actelion over urology dosage patent; GE Renewable Energy (defendant) against Siemens Gamesa over offshore wind turbines, including trade secrets; Astronics (defendant) against Lufthansa over aeroplane seats (public knowledge); Dürr Systems (defendant) against French competitor over automotive paint robots; Oppo (defendant) against Nokia over 4G and 5G technology including FRAND (public knowledge).