Litigation: Lawyers – Germany 2020

JUVE Comment

This patent litigation practice positioned excellently across Europe is a market leader in Germany, too. Thanks to its well-rehearsed mixed approach, the firm has already built up numerous renowned litigators among both lawyers and patent attorneys – a team structure that sets it clearly apart from competitors Hogan Lovells and Hoyng ROKH Monegier. The different disciplines are now almost equally represented in the partnership. In pharma litigation, the team around Jüngst and Wolters-Höhne impressed the market with a large number of important c...

Other Rankings

• Litigation: Patent Attorneys

JUVE Comment

Hogan Lovells’ patents practice has maintained its position among the top German litigation firms. It is a well-oiled machine, not only conducting top-class litigation for a multitude of notable clients within a broad technical spectrum, but also regularly bringing young talent to the fore. The team consists of internationally renowned senior partners like Martin Fähndrich and Andreas von Falck, but younger partners are also catching up: Miriam Gundt has a good reputation for pharma cases, as demonstrated by the dispute over cholesterol-lowerin...

JUVE Comment

Thanks to its outstanding visibility before the German courts in high-profile mobile communications suits, the German litigation team of this US firm has caught up with the three market leaders Bird & Bird, Hogan Lovells and Hoyng ROKH Monegier. While a year ago Marcus Grosch’s team was still litigating for Qualcomm against Apple in the class action concerning semiconductor patents, it is currently omnipresent on the side of Daimler as the main defendant in the landmark proceedings over connected cars patents. The team not only litigated for th...

JUVE Comment

This mixed IP firm is a market leader for both patent litigation and patent prosecution. The firm solidified this position with two crucial moves. Firstly, it brought on board the young partner Alexander Haertel, who is experienced in mobile communications suits, as a partner for the Düsseldorf office, giving BP its first litigator at the site of this important patent court for some years. There were only two patent attorneys here before this, which put BP at a disadvantage against most of the leading litigation firms who have much larger teams...

Other Rankings

• Patent Filing
• Litigation: Patent Attorneys

JUVE Comment

At the site of Europe’s most important patent court, Düsseldorf, this IP firm is very well connected. Because of close ties to patent attorney firms, it traditionally conducts far more proceedings than most competitors. Both of these facts have secured Krieger Mes its position among the patent litigation market leaders for many years. The partners boast a strong network both in the German judiciary and in industry and politics. They can therefore exert influence on important legislative projects – not only in the interest of clients, but in the...

JUVE Comment

With a strong profile in pharma, biotech and mobile communications cases, this law firm is among the wider group of market leaders. Like its main competitors among the Düsseldorf IP boutiques, Krieger Mes and Wildanger, ROP conducts litigation in a wide range of technical sectors. For BP it won a case involving E10 fuel and was active for Siemens concerning construction cranes for wind turbines. ROP differs markedly from the two competitors in one respect: it does not represent NPEs in mobile communications suits, instead defending manufacturer...

JUVE Comment

The patent litigation team at this large international firm is a challenger to the market leaders and excellently positioned for pharma and mobile communications cases. The practice holds its outstanding position in the latter thanks to extensive litigation for regular client Continental as intervener for Daimler in the connected cars dispute with Nokia. The team of renowned senior partner Hufnagel and the young and established Prinz zu Waldeck und Pyrmont defended Facebook against an attack by Blackberry. They were also active for Lenovo in a ...

JUVE Comment

The German litigation practice of this international full-service firm remains an important challenger to the market-leading practices. Unlike in previous years, however, the lawyers’ work is no longer dominated by suits concerning pharma and biotech patents, but by significantly more suits over high-tech and mobile communications patents. In late summer 2020, TW landed a coup with the preparation of a class action for German chip manufacturer Globalfoundries against competitor TSMC and 19 of its customers, including Apple and Google. The suit ...

JUVE Comment

There is no doubt that this mixed IP firm is among the market leaders for patent prosecution and litigation on the patent attorney side. It also boasts a well-positioned lawyer practice with an excellent name in pharma litigation. Both the patent attorneys and lawyers are seen in economically important cases, for example for Allergan in the CRISPR/Cas battle, for Sanofi/Regeneron concerning cholesterol-lowering drug Praluent and for Zentiva regarding cancer drug pemetrexed and HIV drug Truvada. But the firm does not always work in such cases wi...

Other Rankings

• Patent Filing
• Litigation: Patent Attorneys

JUVE Comment

This partner-focused IP boutique with patent litigation teams in Munich and Düsseldorf has a strong profile for litigation in infringement proceedings, especially those involving mechanics and telecommunications patents. Klaka represented Wiko in the complex dispute against Sisvel. The firm also saw new work from long-time clients such as TCT. In other technical fields, both Mittelstand companies and large corporations, such as AVM Computersysteme and Certoplast, hire the team frequently. Contacts often arise via the firm’s established relation...

JUVE Comment

This German patents practice is gaining momentum in litigation. It benefits from the strongly positioned London office, with which it conducts numerous top-level proceedings for pharmaceuticals and biologicals originators– Pfizer and Eli Lilly are key clients of the European practice. Under the leadership of Feldges’ German team, the firm also litigated for Bayer in several proceedings, including a dispute with Ceva in 17 countries over a veterinary drug. The engagement of former head of patents at Bayer Animal Health Dr. Stephan van der Vlugt ...

JUVE Comment

This well-positioned litigation practice is firmly anchored among German Mittelstand companies strong in the technological sectors, conducting, for example, major proceedings for Erbe regarding medical products. Leifheit also instructed CMS firms in six European countries for numerous cases involving kitchen scales. Mobile communications and connected cars suits are beginning to play a greater role and the German practice made a breakthrough here: in connected cars cases, it now represents suppliers in the courtroom and also advises them behind...

JUVE Comment

DLA’s patent team is carving out an ever-better position for infringement proceedings and patent advice. Although the practice is relatively small, it boasts a strong track record in high-profile cases. DLA again played a central role in connected cars disputes for Harman and Aptiv as first-tier suppliers of communications modules. DLA represented these as interveners for BMW in infringement suits with Broadcom. For Harman, the team is also active in the suits by Avanci pool members Conversant and Sharp against Daimler. DLA acquired Dell, Hewle...

JUVE Comment

Wolfgang Kellenter’s patent team is prominent in litigation for both industrial companies and NPEs, acting for the latter in SEP suits against mobile communications manufacturers. In addition to the NPEs FIPA and IPCom, the team also battled for the patent pool France Brevets, initiated by the French state, against Apple. The team demonstrated that an industry-focused firm like HM can represent these clients just as successfully as traditional industrial companies e.g. for Renault as a supplier to Daimler in a connected cars suit. The French au...

JUVE Comment

This large, international firm has a strong profile in Germany with its integrated team of patent attorneys and lawyers. The patent attorneys operate a relatively broad prosecution practice and provide litigation support to the well-positioned German litigation team as well as teams in other European markets where Jones Day has no patent attorneys. The German team is especially renowned in the chemicals sector, for example providing extensive litigation for Celgene in EPO oppositions. The team often cooperates with the strong US practice and co...

Other Rankings

• Patent Filing
• Litigation: Patent Attorneys

JUVE Comment

The well-positioned team at this small Munich IP boutique around Hosea Haag enjoys a solid market position thanks to his close ties to NPEs like Unwired Planet in mobile communications suits. The firm filed an impressive number of new mobile communications suits for Invte, Onebutton, Uniloc and Wsou Investments. Ampersand has therefore gained a great deal of experience in SEPs and FRAND aspects for plaintiffs. Litigation for Mittelstand companies is also part of the core activity, with frequent work involving complex patents, e.g. in optics. De...

JUVE Comment

The German patent team at this large international firm frequently represents clients in infringement and nullity suits with several dual-qualified lawyers. The firm is especially well connected among Mittelstand and pharma companies and has a heavy workload in licensing negotiations. Jochen Herr’s team, for example, was active for Giesecke & Devrient and Becton Dickinson. The team also acquired Mittelstand auto suppliers as well as pharma and medical product companies from Germany as new clients. Cases for these are often extensive and kee...

JUVE Comment

This mixed IP firm is one of Germany’s active prosecution practices but is also busy in litigation. The latter is focussed firstly on intensive work in EPO oppositions, especially for technology companies from the German Mittelstand, such as Enercon or Sennheiser. Secondly, the litigation team is increasingly involved in mobile communications suits. Patent attorney Jochen Ehlers successfully fought for Sisvel against Haier alongside lawyers from Arnold Ruess, with the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) ruling on precedent FRAND issues...

Other Rankings

• Patent Filing
• Litigation: Patent Attorneys

JUVE Comment

The patent litigation team at this German full-service firm put in a strong appearance for its regular clients of Mittelstand companies and the pharma sector, where it exploited its experience in biosimilars and SPCs. Thanks to strong ties to a patent attorney firm, the team also took on the litigation for Diazyme in a suit over biomarkers. But the practice has not appeared in the big-ticket pharma proceedings for some years now and was not hired for the recent major mobile communications cases either. The two younger partners are yet to match ...

JUVE Comment

This small Munich patent team, which is well-positioned for litigation and licensing advice, has undergone a radical change of strategy in the past two years. Originally started as a team for NPE litigation, it is moving away from this to provide more support to the industry clients typical of the overall firm. The firm therefore ended its close relationship with patent attorney firm Bosch Jehle, with whom it had initiated many NPE suits. The team gained a great deal of experience in SEP and FRAND issues in these and is now bringing this into p...

JUVE Comment

Sebastian Heim’s patent team at this German full-service firm boasts a solid position in patent litigation for Mittelstand companies strong in the technological sectors and currently works for the firm’s regular clients including ZF Friedrichshafen, Ziehm Imaging and garage door manufacturer Hörmann in infringement proceedings and parallel nullity suits. The team increasingly conducts these, as well as opposition and nullity suits, without external patent attorneys. Clients regularly express high satisfaction with the service and work results. ...

JUVE Comment

The team of lawyers at this full-service firm is well positioned in patents and advises many clients on a wide spectrum ranging from employee-invention law to patent litigation. These include many regular clients from the auto and chemicals industry, such as VW or Wacker Chemie. CBH is increasingly able to combine the particularly outstanding experience in employee-invention law of Jens Kunzmann’s Cologne team and the many years of experience of the Munich lawyers around Stephan Gruber in infringement and nullity suits. The connections of the C...

JUVE Comment

The small, well-positioned team of this Hamburg IP firm mainly conducts patent litigation for defendants. One of the two partners boasts strong connections among healthcare companies and provides comprehensive advice in patent litigation and pharma advertising law disputes. The other partner’s regular clients are Mittelstand companies specialising in mechanics, which he often accompanies in infringement proceedings all the way up to parallel EPO opposition and nullity suits. Companies from the packaging and consumer goods industry also feature ...

JUVE Comment

This patent team is well positioned for cross-border patent litigation involving pharmaceuticals and biologics. Such proceedings are conducted by Julia Schönbohm and her team exclusively for researching companies like Sanofi, Shire Viro Pharma and another international pharma corporation, where they work with Linklaters’ London and Paris teams. The German team is developing a second specialty in suits over electronics and mobile communications patents. In the latter, it is currently busy advising German auto manufacturers on FRAND aspects. In t...

JUVE Comment

The German patent practice of this US firm is well positioned in the German market thanks to strong connections to auto suppliers. Although it is not visible in the frontline of litigators for the high-profile connected cars suits, it is advising Harman International, one of the most important suppliers of connectivity components, extensively in the background. In the litigation for the Avanci pool, it was DLA which represented Harman as intervener for Daimler. The firm also acquired an Asian component supplier as client, who is preparing for N...

JUVE Comment

This mixed IP boutique focuses largely on litigation and enjoys a strong market position for both EPO suits and nullity and infringement proceedings. While name partner Frank Peterreins is mainly known for litigation for Boston Scientific concerning medical technology, Thomas Adam has a good name for cases relating to technology, especially mobile communications patents. Here, the firm appears primarily on the side of NPEs. These two specialties somewhat obscure the fact that the partners litigate within a broad technical spectrum, in line with...