JUVE Comment

The French team led by Anne-Charlotte Le Bihan at this international, IP-driven firm has made great strides towards the top of the market over the past year. While many competitors had a quieter year, the team was hired by a multitude of new clients from a range of sectors, with Keboda, Adalvo and Zodiac among them. At the same time, many of the long-running, pan-European cases for regular clients like Edwards Lifesciences, Microsoft, Nespresso and Allergan/AbbVie are still running at top speed. These examples illustrate how clients from all fields of technology view the practice as a good choice for their most important cases.

The dynamic progress made at client level is reflected in the team set-up. The firm brought on board and integrated Thierry Lautier as a second partner. He complements the team’s tech expertise wonderfully and brings the necessary litigation experience. He is taking over the leading role in the Allergan/AbbVie suit against Mylan from Yves Bizollon, who now works in an of counsel capacity, and, in cases such as Datamars, is already litigating in partnership with the German team.

Although the team lost Frédéric Portal, its patent attorney and associate set-up is stronger than it was two years ago. This team formation comes at the right time, as, with the UPC launch, the team can benefit from parallel pan-European, national and UPC litigation.

Strengths

Well-oiled pan-European patent litigation in all technical fields.

European set-up

As expected, Bird & Bird – as an internationally fully integrated firm with patent litigation teams at all UPC venues – is being sought out for the first UPC cases, primarily by companies from the medtech industry. The French Bird & Bird team is involved in an extensive suit for Dexcom against Abbott over an analyte monitoring system for diabetes patients. This dispute is so comprehensive that both partners from the French office are litigating before the Paris local division. But the lawsuit also shows the limitations and conflicts that representing clients at the UPC entails: Dexcom is relying on a French-British team from Bird & Bird plus a German-US team from Quinn Emanuel. Bird & Bird’s superbly positioned German lawyers and patent attorneys are not involved. Conversely, at the first hearing before the Paris central division for client Edwards Lifesciences, German partner Boris Kreye teamed up with UK Powell Gilbert partner Tess Waldron to fight the case for Bird & Bird, while the French partners could only watch from the sidelines.

Just how successful Bird & Bird will be at the UPC will therefore depend in part on how the firm deals with these client decisions. It has already shown in the new court’s start-up phase that it is one of the first choices when it comes to extensive cases in the UPC system and that its French office is excellently positioned for these.

Recommended individuals

Anne-Charlotte Le Bihan

Team

14 lawyers, 2 patent attorneys

Specialties

Focus on patent litigation. Advice concerning patent strategies and licences, and on the interface with antitrust.

Clients

Litigation: Adalvo (Defendant) against Sanofi over Teriflunomid; Edwards Lifesciences (claimant) against Meril over transcatheter heart valves; Minakem (claimant) against Melchior over method for producing cyclopropane; Allergan/AbbVie (claimant) against Mylan on bimatoprost solution; SATT AST (Inserm, University of Bordeaux, CHU de Bordeaux, defendant) against ProGeLife over licence agreement on patented invention related to skin cancer; Lesaffre (defendant) against Jouffray Drillaud and Danstar Ferment over fermentation plant products; Microsoft (defendant) against Ferid Allani over icon displays; Nespresso (defendant) against K-Fee over coffee capsules; Broadcom (defendant) against Intellectual Ventures over SEPs for DSL; Nexans (defendant) against Prysmian over electric cables; Keboda (defendant) against Sonceboz and Opel over automotive electronic components; Akwel (claimant) against U-Shin over flush handles in automotive vehicles; Akwel (claimant) against Amosan Distribution, Amosan Petrochemicals and Green Source Engineering over diesel particle filters; Zodiac (claimant) against Wybotics on pool robots; Datamars (claimant) against HID on identification devices for textiles. UPC: Dexcom (claimant and defendant) against Abbott over an analyte monitoring system for diabetes patients (public knowledge).