JUVE Comment

This Essen-based IP firm is one of the best-known litigation outfits in western Germany on the patent attorney side. This is thanks to steady staff development over many years. Close ties to German companies strong in the technological sectors, such as auto suppliers Kiekert, TI Automotive and ThyssenKrupp, and bathroom manufacturer Kaldewei, lend the firm stability. The firm also files many patents for other regular clients like Novoferm, Certoplast and Hailo Wind Systems. Because Andrejewski Honke also conducted a number of opposition and nullity suits for these, the coronavirus pandemic did not impact the patent attorneys’ work too negatively, despite periods of reduced working hours in the auto industry. Their expertise is also called on by external lawyers for national infringement proceedings. Following slight growth last year, the firm did not expand further in the pandemic. The central challenge in any case is to prepare for the upcoming generation change in its core field, traditional mechanical engineering, with visible, younger partners.

Strengths

Patent prosecution with technical expertise in engineering, especially for the automotive and sanitation industry.

Recommended individuals

Bernd Lorenz (“impressive arguments in infringement cases”, competitor), Jörg Nunnenkamp (both patent attorneys)

Team

8 patent attorneys

Specialties

Clear focus on patent prosecution with broad technical expertise. Opposition and nullity suits. Infringement proceedings for regular clients, generally in cooperation with external lawyers.

Clients

Litigation: Anomatic (defendant) against Presspart Manufacturing over inhalation tanks; Certoplast (defendant) against Coroplast, Tesa and others over sticky tape; KHS (claimant) against Renner over bottling plants; Kiekert (claimant) against Magna and Brose in nullity suit over car locks; tire retailers over machines for plastics processing; Kompernaß against Philips over rotating razors; Changzhou Kaidi Electrical (claimant) against Linak in nullity case over furniture; Wessel-Werk (claimant) against imitators over vacuum cleaner nozzles. Prosecution: patent filing and oppositions for Aldi Süd, Atlas Copco, Giesecke + Devrient, Hailo Wind Systems, Franz Kaldewei, Kiekert, Mondi, Novoferm, Simonswerk, Ströher Group, TI Automotive, Titan Umreifungstechnik, Wessel-Werk. Oppositions for Kaldewei concerning sanitary fittings; TI Automotive over fuel lines, Thyssenkrupp over camshafts and construction equipment.