JUVE Comment

This small IP boutique remains highly active in litigation before national courts. While the international client base spans a broad range of industries including medical devices, consumer goods and mobile communications, the team around Catherine Mateu stands out mainly for pharma work. For example, it represented Estar Medical in a dispute over patents for an anti-aging procedure. The practice also brought a long-running national case to a successful close, achieving a final win for Merck Millipore against Sartorius over bioreactors. A notable new instruction from Linxens in one of the first French appeal proceedings against an INPI opposition underscores the firm’s range in patent litigation. Mateu’s traditionally well-established connections to Spanish clients such as Novapet provide her with a constant stream of litigation work as shown by new instructions from a Spanish fragrance manufacturer and a car supplier.

Armengaud Guerlain has also successfully made the leap to the UPC. Mateu acted in two of the European court’s early proceedings, representing Ecareyou in a revocation and infringement action over medical devices and NJ Diffusion in an infringement case concerning medical wigs. Furthermore, she provided legal advice on French law in another UPC case. This activity demonstrates that the traditional client base can profit from the firm’s closeknit network in the new European system.

Strengths

Patent litigation across a variety of sectors, close contacts to Spanish clients.

Recommended individuals

Catherine Mateu (“essential figure in pharma litigation”, competitor)

Team

5 lawyers

Clients

Linxens against Thales in INPI opposition over method and production of a smart card; Merck Millipore against Sartorius over bioreactors; Estar Medical against Regenlab over pharmaceutical process for anti-aging; Novapet against PDG Plastiques over packaging technology for milk bottles; TTK against Balatchev over breach of contract and trade secrets misappropriation; TTK against Dagman over electronic leak detection systems; TTK against Elsa and Omnileak over electronic leak detection systems; Wiko against Modelabs over telephone packaging.