JUVE Comment

This mixed IP firm is a market leader. It operates one of the biggest European prosecution practices and boasts a very strong position among Japanese companies. The litigation team has an excellent reputation for pharma suits. One client praised the team as “first class, especially in pharma proceedings” and competitors say it is “absolutely top in chemistry and biotech”. The lawyers were recently involved in some prominent cases, e.g. for AstraZeneca and Sanofi. However, the litigators have so far struggled to convince clients from other sectors of their litigation experience. The patent attorneys, on the other hand, advise on significant mobile communications cases alongside renowned law firms, e.g. Noerr for Tinder operator MTCH in a suit from instant messaging service Hoccer over app technology. The attorneys also worked with Kather Augenstein for Ericsson against Wiko over mobile communications.

Strengths

Patent prosecution with technical competence in pharma, telecoms, chemistry, food chemistry, mechanics and electronics. Pharma litigation.

European strategy

With Düsseldorf, London, Munich and now Amsterdam offices, HE is represented in almost all the European key patent courts and potential UPC venues. But it does not have patent litigators at each location. HE has patent attorney teams in Milan and Madrid that it recently bolstered. Only Paris is lacking, but establishing a presence there is not a priority for HE at present. 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

Niels Hölder, Dirk Schüssler-Langeheine, Clemens Steins; patent attorneys: Thorsten Bausch, Peter Klusmann (“very present”, competitor about both), Matthias Kindler, Georg Siegert (“recommendable”, “really knows what he’s doing, clear explanations”, competitor), Peter Schweighart, Andreas Stefferl (“ambitious”, competitor), Leo Polz (“recommendable”, “a challenging opponent”, competitors), (“know their stuff, explain things really well”, competitor about both), Joachim Renken, Joseph Taormino (“highly present”, competitor about both)

Team

84 patent attorneys, 10 lawyers

Specialties

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: Nikon against ASML/Carl Zeiss SMT over semiconductor technology; IP Bridge against HTC over mobile communications; Samsung Bioepis against Genentech over herceptin; AstraZeneca against various generics manufacturer over second medical use of fulvestrant; Sanofi and Regeneron against Amgen over alirocumab; Zentiva Pharma against Gilead over Truvada; regularly for Accord, Asus, Boehringer Ingelheim, Lundbeck, NTT DoCoMo, Seiko Epson and Toshiba. Prosecution: filing and part oppositions for Alnylam, Allergan, Federal Mogul, Fertin Pharma, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Moderna Therapeutics.