JUVE Comment

This national full-service firm operates a patent litigation practice that has regularly attracted clients with high-profile cases for years. 2023 was no different for the team led by the renowned Thomas Cuche. For many of these new clients, the practice successfully reached agreements with competitors without bringing legal action, to the clients’ satisfaction. This work in the background has replaced extensive litigation cases like that for Gilead.

On the whole, clients from a wide array of technical fields seek out the team for their cases, for which the practice can draw on its wealth of experience, including pan-European litigation.

With one of the largest patent litigation teams of all national French firms, DTMV continues to rival those at the top of the market and remains interesting to clients, but the UPC poses a challenge to firms whose pan-European litigation work has so far been within non-exclusive partnerships.

Strengths

Litigation related to electronics, mechanics and pharmaceuticals.

European set-up

With its informal cooperation partners, DTMV has been gathering pan-European litigation experience for years for companies like Lidl that repeatedly have to defend their own brands against competitors in France and Germany. The team enjoys an outstanding reputation and a strong informal network.

However, DTMV is not yet one of the foremost names for UPC proceedings in the early days of the new court, unlike competitor Gide. At the same time, DTMV does not offer its clients such a comprehensive UPC service, as it has neither integrated patent attorneys into its team, nor does it offer international offices or formal cooperation partners.

Recommended individuals

Thomas Cuche (“very client-oriented”, competitor), Thierry Mollet-Viéville

Team

16 lawyers

Specialties

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

Clients

Litigation: Lidl (defendant) against Vorwerk over kitchen appliance; Gilead (defendant) against ViiV Healthcare over HIV drug Biktarvy (settled 2023); Hutchinson (claimant) against Tyron Runflat and others over wheel inflation system; Idea Optical (defendant) against Dasan South Korean on optic fibres; Idea Optical (defendant) against Nexans on optic fibres (settled 2023); Eiffage (claimant) against Regeplastic over modified bitumen; Bigben (defendant) against Nintendo over Wii consoles; Bio-Ex (defendant) against Angus over fire-fighting foam; OSE Immunotherapeutics (defendant) against Inserm over patent ownership (all public knowledge).