JUVE Comment

This mixed IP firm is among the market-leading practices on the patent attorney side, but the litigation team is also excellently positioned when it comes to pharmaceuticals suits. HE has now raised the headcount of its prosecution team and underscored the importance of this by appointing four partners from its own young patent attorneys. The renowned litigation practice was expanded with an associate lawyer in Munich. The Düsseldorf litigation team, however, still needs reinforcements, partly because the litigators do not enjoy a similar standing in other sectors to that seen in pharmaceuticals proceedings. In major mobile communications proceedings, for example, it is mainly the patent attorneys who are visible, e.g. for Ericsson against IPCom concerning UMTS patents. Competitor Vossius has overtaken HE here by ramping up its Düsseldorf litigation team with laterals. But HE is expanding its European network. As well as offices in Milan and Madrid, which have grown by foreign fee earners, the firm launched in Amsterdam with a Dutch patent attorney – a logical step as covering the Dutch market from Düsseldorf was not a huge success.

Strengths

Patent prosecution with technical expertise in pharmaceuticals, telecoms, chemicals, food chemicals, mechanics and electronics. Pharmaceuticals proceedings.

European strategy

HE is building up its European offices organically and is thus a European IP firm like Grünecker and Bardehle. With Düsseldorf, London, Munich and now Amsterdam offices, HE is represented in almost all the key UPC venues. Only Paris is missing. To further secure its position, HE is using its excellent name among Japanese clients to put its feelers out towards China and Korea.

Recommended individuals

Dr. Niels Hölder, Dr. Dirk Schüssler-Langeheine, Dr. Clemens Steins; patent attorneys: Dr. Thorsten Bausch, Dr. Leo Polz, Dr. Matthias Kindler, Dr. Peter Klusmann, Dr. Peter Schweighart, Dr. Joseph Taormino, Dr. Joachim Renken.

Team

94 patent attorneys, 11 lawyers

Practice

All-round IP activity. Around 75 percent of the practice is in patents, focusing on patent prosecution, with very broad technical expertise. Opposition and nullity suits and infringement proceedings. Renowned trademarks and unfair competition practice.

Clients

Litigation: AstraZeneca against various generics manufacturers regarding second medical use of fulvestrant; Asus and IP Bridge concerning mobile communications; E-Ink against TrekStor & OED regarding e-reader; Ericsson against Wiko concerning LTE; Nikon against Carl Zeiss SMT concerning semiconductor technology; Sanofi (France) and Regeneron (US) against Amgen regarding alirocumab; Zentiva Pharma against Gilead concerning Truvada; frequent work for Accord, Asus, Boehringer Ingelheim, Lundbeck, NTT DoCoMo, Seiko Epson and Toshiba. Prosecution: filing and opposition suits for Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Daikin, Hamamatsu, Seiko Epson, Konica Minolta.