JUVE Comment

This well-positioned pure patent attorney firm has excellent connections to Asian companies, who instruct it to file patents in electronics, IT and telecoms. The firm filed many patents at the EPO, for example, for Sony and Konica Minolta. Volkswagen also trusts MFG for traditional auto technologies, as well as telecommunications patents.

The particular strength of the small and very partner-heavy firm lies in mobile communications litigation. MFG has established a visible specialty in SEP suits here, though later than other patent attorney firms such as Maikowski & Ninnemann. It quickly gained a lot of ground, with work for Xiaomi and another Chinese handset maker in NPE suits. All three name partners enjoy a strong reputation for these and often work with teams of lawyers in Munich, for example from Noerr or Simmons & Simmons. One external lawyer even praised them as “the best in a technical respect”.

Strengths

Patent prosecution in automotive, IT and telecoms. Mobile communications cases.

Recommended individuals

Till Gerhard, Frank Meyer-Wildhagen (“thorough strategist, in-depth understanding of disputes”, competitor), Martin Meggle-Freund (“technical competence at the top of the market, excellent support for lawyers”, competitor)

Team

4 patent attorneys

Specialties

In patent prosecution strong in automotive, transport, telecoms and IT. Patent attorneys’ litigation, especially in mobile communications cases.

Clients

Litigation: Xiaomi (defendant) against Sisvel over UMTS and LTE standards; Enovsys (claimant) against Deutsche Telekom over data security in mobile location technology; Chinese handset maker (defendant) against VoiceAge EVS over speech codecs for mobile phones; Volkswagen (defendant) against Metatron over a methane-injecting technology for cars. Prosecution: filing for Konica Minolta, Sony, Tadano, Volkswagen (all public knowledge).