JUVE Comment

The strong team around dual-qualified partners Grégoire Desrousseaux and François Pochart has dominated the top of the French market for years; it is trusted by clients of all sizes, sector and origin.

Pochart is one of the leading litigators in France for life sciences, with core clients such as Teva and Total Energies, while Desrousseaux is practically unrivalled in litigation for technical fields such as telecommunications. Work on cases such as Thales versus Philips and ETSI concerning FRAND, and for Nokia as co-defendant of Orange in the dispute with Assia concerning ADSL demonstrates that this national French firm is a popular choice for the few pending telecoms cases in France. Clients also instruct the firm for important EPO oppositions, for example new client bioMérieux. Key clients such as Teva bank on the team’s extensive expertise on the interface between prosecution and litigation when they want to bring new products to the market. The basis of this success is the well-established cooperation between patent attorneys and lawyers, which is part of August Debouzy’s DNA.

While its competitors have increasingly strengthened and created this internal cooperation between patent attorneys and lawyers in recent years, August Debouzy’s practice continues to stand out for its high-calibre clients in both areas. Due to its high number of dual-qualified lawyers, it has fewer problems in rectifying imbalances in this cooperation and, in addition to national litigation, its strong position in EPO oppositions in particular anchors the team among clients. The team is also leading a large part of the first proceedings in the newly introduced oppositions before the French Patent Office (INPI) and is expected to conduct the first hearing for Michelin before the Paris Court of Appeal this year.

Up-and-coming partner Lionel Martin is attracting attention with cases such as Centripetal against Cisco over cybersecurity. US clients like this provide opportunities to expand his client base alongside the two highly renowned practice heads. Counsel Abdelaziz Khatab, who is already well positioned in the market, also shows that the practice is adept at building up young talent.

Strengths

Litigation before the French courts and the EPO. In-depth telecoms, electronics and pharmaceuticals expertise.

European set-up

In contrast to the international teams of competitors such as Hoyng ROKH Monegier, Allen & Overy or Bird & Bird, August Debouzy relies on a purely national set-up. With this strategy, August Debouzy has so far been very successful in pan-European cases such as for Nespresso alongside the German litigation boutique Arnold Ruess, for bioMérieux in cooperation with Jones Day, and for Abbott with Taylor Wessing.

The firm has seamlessly continued this success story at the UPC. Lawsuits for regular clients HP and Abbott demonstrate the trust clients place in the team, as well as its responsiveness. Not even competitor Hoyng ROKH Monegier was active in as many cases as August Debouzy in the first six months of the UPC.

The first phase of the UPC has thus proved the firm right in its strategic decision not to merge with other European patent litigation firms. Instead, the firm forms close relationships on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the client’s wishes. That the firm is welcomed by these patent teams with open arms is also reflected in the outstanding recommendations leading lawyers in other UPC countries have heaped on the firm for years.

Recommended individuals

Grégoire Desrousseaux (“more than up to the task”, client), François Pochart (“excellent knowledge and commercial advice”, client), Lionel Martin (“someone worth knowing in advice and prosecution”, competitor), Abdelaziz Khatab (“strong litigator”, competitor)

Team

7 lawyers, 5 patent attorneys, 5 dual qualified

Specialties

Patent litigation in all technical fields, EPO oppositions. Also general IP advice. Small patent filing practice.

Clients

Litigation: Thales (claimant) against Philips and ETSI over FRAND licensing and claim in the US; Nipro (defendant) against Fresenius over dialysers; Alcatel Lucent/Nokia (as co-defendant of Orange) against Assia over ADSL; Insulet (claimant) against Medtrum over medical device; Centripetal (claimant) against Cisco over cybersecurity; Aldes (defendant) against France Air over air extraction box; Huawei (co-defendant of Télécom, Orange and SFR) against Intellectual Ventures over SEPs for DSL; Teva (defendant) against Daiichi Sankyo over SPC for anti-cholesterol medication; Teva (claimant) against MSD over SPC for drug ezetimibe simvastatin/Inegy (Supreme Court); Teva (defendant) against Novartis over everolimus/Afinitor; Teva (claimant) against Bristol-Myers Squibb over compound apixaban (Court of Appeal); Teva (defendant) against Novartis over fingolimod/Gilenya for treating multiple sclerosis; Swania/Henkel (defendants) against Salveco over ecological detergents. Prosecution: EPO oppositions for Becton Dickinson, CNRS, Epsilon, Essilor, Medtronic, Saft, SFR, Suez, Total Energies, Wright Medical; INPI opposition for Michelin; patent filing and advice for Acrelec, B.Braun Medical, Bugali, Be.Care, I.Ceram, Novasep. UPC cases: HP (claimant) against Lama over printer cartridges (Paris local division); Abbott (defendant) against DexCom over displays (Paris and Munich local divisions).