Litigation: Lawyers – Germany 2021

JUVE Comment

As one of the market leaders, this German patent litigation practice is a central pillar of the international firm, with an excellent setup across Europe. Unlike in other European countries, Bird & Bird stands out in Germany not only for the exceptional visibility of its lawyers in litigation, but also for its well-oiled mixed approach with its own patent attorneys. Of the seven recently appointed counsel, three are patent attorneys. Each discipline is now almost equally represented in the partnership. This team structure sets Bird & Bi...

Other Rankings

• Litigation: Patent Attorneys

JUVE Comment

The mixed patent practice of this full-service firm is unchallenged in the top group of German litigation firms. The international patent practice also sets the benchmark in Europe. The leading role that the German partners play within the European practice is based on their strong presence in high-stakes proceedings before German courts. Even in the economically difficult times of the Covid-19 pandemic, the patent practice ran like a well-oiled machine with many important pharma and biosimilar proceedings for originator companies such as Eli L...

JUVE Comment

In the extremely successful years 2018 and 2019, the German litigation team of this US firm was catapulted into the top league with what were then the three market leaders Bird & Bird, Hogan Lovells and Hoyng ROKH Monegier. Quinn Emanuel consolidated this position in 2020/21, a no less impressive period, although major new series of proceedings failed to materialise. Nonetheless, younger partners Jérôme Kommer and Jesko Preuß confirmed their strong market presence by working for their own clients (e.g. Voxer), and through their role in coordina...

JUVE Comment

As a pure IP firm that has deeply internalised the mixed approach, Bardehle is among the market leaders for patent litigation on the lawyer and patent attorney side in equal measure. The firm is extremely strong in telecommunications patents. It represents many well-known industrial companies including BMW, Robert Bosch, TomTom, Microsoft and AirFrance/KLM, but also NPEs like Intellectual Ventures. Bardehle masters this balancing act magnificently, building up a wealth of knowledge on FRAND issues. This is a forward-looking specialty, as advice...

Other Rankings

• Patent Filing
• Litigation: Patent Attorneys

JUVE Comment

Thanks to a strong presence in high-stakes cases and a successful staffing policy, the litigation team at this international full-service firm has caught up with the market leaders. It frequently litigates for international corporations including Apple, Bayer, Novartis, Facebook and Broadcom in economically important patent cases. Freshfields does not represent all of these top-level regular clients exclusively. Nevertheless, the practice around the experienced Hufnagel and well-established Prinz zu Waldeck und Pyrmont is equally strongly posit...

JUVE Comment

At first glance, this leading IP firm for patent litigation has been developing in an entirely unspectacular manner for years but has nevertheless seen a sizeable transformation of its mobile communications work. Krieger Mes traditionally follows a very partner-focused approach. The partnership has grown extremely slowly, and its client relationships are very solid. The firm’s strong position in the key court location of Düsseldorf is based on the partners’ excellent contacts among the courts, Mittelstand clients and many German patent attorney...

JUVE Comment

With a strong presence in litigation across a wide technical spectrum, this law firm still holds a place among the German market leaders. None of its main competitors among the Düsseldorf IP boutiques, Krieger Mes, Wildanger and Arnold Ruess, were active in such an even split of cases from the healthcare and mobile communications sector. With Thomas Musmann and Max von Rospatt, the firm traditionally plays in the top league for pharma and biotech proceedings. They are active solely for originator drug companies (e.g. Amgen, Biogen, Ceva, Dr. Fa...

JUVE Comment

The German litigation practice of this international full-service firm challenged the market-leading teams through its presence in litigation spanning a broad technical spectrum. The firm’s mainstay is suits relating to medical technology and pharmaceuticals, with a great deal of activity for generics manufacturers such as Hexal/Sandoz and Mylan. These are often represented in cooperation with Taylor Wessing’s other European offices.

JUVE Comment

This mixed IP firm is without a doubt one of the market leaders in patent prosecution and litigation on the patent attorney side. The coronavirus crisis has even fuelled this further, as for years Hoffmann Eitle has litigated for medical product manufacturers like Edwards Lifesciences and pharma companies such as Sanofi-Aventis and Zentiva, as well as biotech companies like Samsung Bioepis with its mixed team. Clients also rely on Hoffmann Eitle for innovative key patents: Allergan hired the team regarding CRISPR/Cas patents, as did Moderna for...

Other Rankings

• Patent Filing
• Litigation: Patent Attorneys

JUVE Comment

This IP boutique has a strong market image for patent litigation. The patent team is firmly anchored among clients in the mechanics sector but is seeing a steady stream of interesting work in a range of sectors, often thanks to good ties to patent attorney firms like Weickmann & Weickmann. Telecommunications proceedings are increasingly where the action is in terms of business development. The team demonstrated its extensive litigation experience with its successful representation of claimant Virtual Paper Licensing against Sony regarding lapto...

JUVE Comment

The German patent litigation practice of this international firm put in yet another strong performance, as evidenced by the huge rise in proceedings involving electronics and mobile communications patents, and moreover the arrival of young Hogan Lovells partner Stephan Neuhaus. He brings a wealth of experience in pharma suits from his old firm for such clients as Eli Lilly and Hoffmann La-Roche. Both pharma originator drug manufacturers are also clients of Allen & Overy’s European practice, resulting in synergies for the Allen & Overy team. The...

JUVE Comment

This well-positioned litigation practice operates with a rather untypical setup for an international firm. Firmly anchored among German Mittelstand companies in the technology sectors, the German team is gearing itself more and more towards large-scale proceedings, which it coordinates with the patent teams of other European and Asian CMS firms. Litigation with other CMS firms in several European countries runs particularly smoothly for regular clients Erbe (medical products) and Leifheit (kitchen scales). Tesla also hired several European CMS ...

JUVE Comment

With a much smaller headcount than other international firms like Taylor Wessing, the patent litigation team at DLA put in a particularly strong performance in mobile communications suits. The team around practice head Marcus Gampp once again played a central role in connected cars disputes for the Tier 1 suppliers of communication modules Harman and Aptiv, as co-litigants for BMW and Daimler respectively. Although most connected cars cases were settled in 2021, the team remains active for Harman in a further suit of IP Bridge against Daimler.

JUVE Comment

This mixed IP firm is one of the very active German prosecution practices, but also put in a strong performance in litigation.

Other Rankings

• Patent Filing
• Litigation: Patent Attorneys

JUVE Comment

Wolfgang Kellenter’s patent team has been prominent in proceedings for industrial companies and NPEs for some years. The latter include FIPA and IPCom, but also the patent pool initiated by the French state, France Brevet. The small team has litigated for these in SEP suits against mobile communications manufacturers like Apple, Samsung and HTC, sometimes for many years. It also works for regular clients of the firm as a whole from the industrial sector. These include Renault as a Daimler supplier in the connected cars suits. The French car cor...

JUVE Comment

With its integrated team of patent attorneys and lawyers, Jones Day enjoys a strong market image in Germany. Clients from a multitude of technical fields entrust the patent attorneys with prosecution, some quite extensively. These include start-ups, Mittelstand companies and major corporations from around the world, like Samvardhana Motherson Group from India, as well as companies rooted in the local Frankfurt area.

Other Rankings

• Patent Filing
• Litigation: Patent Attorneys

JUVE Comment

The strong market position of this Munich IP boutique is based on its lawyers’ many years of litigation experience and a large number of mobile communications suits. Ampersand primarily represents NPEs, such as Unwired Planet, Invte, Onebutton, Uniloc and Wsou Investments. Hosea Haag enjoys an excellent reputation for such cases, which he conducts for these loyal clients alone or with a very small team. Ampersand frequently brings actions against numerous mobile communications giants and therefore boasts in-depth knowledge of SEPs and FRAND.

JUVE Comment

The German litigation team in this large international firm is well positioned in patent proceedings for Mittelstand companies. Its high number of dual-qualified lawyers/patent attorneys sets it apart from competitors. The firm reinforced this mixed setup with an additional young patent attorney, who gained experience at competitor Bardehle Pagenberg. Combined with the appointment of Alexander Ritter to partner, this is a strong commitment by the full-service firm to expanding its patent practice.

JUVE Comment

This German full-service firm’s team of lawyers, who are well-positioned in patents, has impressed the market with a clear separation of responsibilities between the Cologne and Munich practices. In Cologne, the team led by Jens Kunzmann and Kurt Bartenbach boasts outstanding experience in employee invention law and entitlement actions. In Munich, Stephan Gruber is one of the best-known litigators for infringement and nullity suits by Mittelstand companies like Wacker Chemie. Clients of both teams are increasingly utilising the full-service cap...

JUVE Comment

The well-positioned patent litigation team of the German full-service law firm represents its core Mittelstand clients across a broad technical spectrum. The team is particularly active for generics manufacturers in cases concerning classic pharma patents, biosimilars and SPCs. Its longstanding defense for Diazyme concerning biomarkers and for a European pharmaceuticals manufacturer of an arthritis drug are the team’s hallmarks. This expertise was transferred years ago from of counsel Thomas Bopp to the younger generation around partner Matthia...

JUVE Comment

This small patent team is well positioned for litigation and licensing advice and has continued its strategic realignment. NPE suits hardly play any role at all now. In line with the overall firm’s direction, industrial clients predominate; the patent team mostly represents these as defendants. More and more mobile communications manufacturers are calling on the Noerr team; it currently works for TCL against NPEs in several mobile communications cases. The team also works for HTC and Xiaomi in this field.

JUVE Comment

This traditional Hamburg firm is well positioned for patent litigation. Partner Karsten Königer mostly represents his regular Mittelstand clients as defendants. He has a good international network and can thus occasionally be seen in international cases when his longstanding clients are sued abroad. He also conducts EPO oppositions and national nullity suits, such as for a coffee capsule manufacturer.

JUVE Comment

The German team of this international firm has carved out a good position for patent litigation in the pharma sector in a short space of time. Partner Ina vom Feld, who is highly experienced in this segment, only joined the firm from Simmons & Simmons in April 2020. This opened the door to the German market for patent litigation for Herbert Smith Freehills. It is currently litigating for Sanofi in a case involving an SPC against Ratiopharm and has landed Dyson as a new client.

JUVE Comment

This Frankfurt team is well positioned to litigate in international patent proceedings for pharma and biotech companies. It recently conducted a suit, for example, for ViiV Healthcare against Gilead involving an HIV drug with high economic stakes. The team led by Julia Schönbohm worked closely with Linklaters’ Paris and London offices on this.

JUVE Comment

Thanks to strong ties to auto suppliers, the German patent practice of this US firm is well positioned in the German market. A very close relationship with audio accessories manufacturer Harman International contributes to this. The team used this to broaden its connection to Samsung Group, most recently to include the Display division of the Korean corporation. The team of lawyers has also emphasised its technical breadth in many different cases in recent months. The Düsseldorf team around Hendrik Holzapfel was very active in cases from the ph...

JUVE Comment

This IP boutique remains well positioned for litigation with its lawyers and patent attorneys. Thomas Adams stood out most of all, with much activity for NPEs such as Solas (OLED displays) and Neodron (mobile communications). He litigates in a wide array of technical fields overall. Frank Peterreins is equally broadly positioned, with major series of actions for Boston Scientific (medical technology), Brose (headphones) and BorgWarner (camshaft adjusters). Prosecution work also displays a huge technical breadth. Such clients as Big Violex, Bose...