JUVE Comment

This Munich patent attorney firm remains one of the most active litigation outfits for mobile communications. This year once again there was hardly any case involving these patents in Germany without Samson & Partner on the scene. The patent attorneys were active for Nokia in the now settled connected cars dispute with Daimler, as well as for Apple, Wiko and Deutsche Telekom in various NPE suits over SEPs. They also litigated for Facebook, HMD and Lenovo in large series of proceedings in cooperation with external lawyers.

This excellent visibility in lawsuits involving telecommunications patents is down to the good relationships with selected law firms, for example Hogan Lovells and Hoyng ROKH Monegier, and with clients in equal measure. Many companies do not want to do without the renowned expertise of the older partners, such as Wolfgang Lippich and Friedrich von Samson-Himmelstjerna, nor that of younger partners Alexander Münster-Horstkotte and Tobias Stammberger.

The firm thus has numerous partners with first-rate reputations. Even a fierce competitor acknowledges, “The firm sets the benchmark in Germany for litigation by patent attorneys.” The fact that some of its allied litigation firms are building up their own technical expertise therefore poses no risk to Samson & Partner’s work.

Besides mobile communications suits, the patent attorneys have stepped up litigation in traditional technologies for industrial clients. These are generally among the firm’s regular clients for patent prosecution and include not only Vestas regarding wind turbines, but also Heckler & Koch against Haenel in a dispute over a new assault rifle for the German armed forces. Hanwha Q-Cells relies on the patent attorneys in an extensive series of actions involving solar technology.

Strengths

Prosecution related to electronics, software, IT and mechanics. Litigation involving mobile communications.

Recommended individuals

Georg Jacoby, Wolfgang Lippich, Alexander Münster-Horstkotte (“first-rate, knows the law and technology equally well”, competitor), Oswald Niederkofler, Friedrich von Samson-Himmelstjerna (“prepares the technical details really well”, competitor), Tobias Stammberger, Michael Turi (all patent attorneys)

Team

22 patent attorneys

Specialties

Active exclusively in IP. Strong focus on technical protection rights. 50 percent patent filing with a broad technical spectrum, 50 percent disputes by patent attorneys: oppositions, nullity suits and infringement proceedings, the latter exclusively with external lawyers.

Clients

Litigation: Facebook (defendant) against Voxer over streaming technology; Facebook (defendant) against Blackberry (settled 2020); Apple (defendant) against various NPEs like Rembrandt and Uniloc; Deutsche Telekom and Nokia (defendants) against Intellectual Ventures; Wiko (defendant) against Ericsson and Philips; Motorola (claimant) against Hytera (all over mobile communications); Nokia (claimant) against Oppo/OnePlus over mobile communications; Nokia (claimant) against Daimler over connected cars (settled 2021); Continental against Broadcom in nullity suit (over connected cars patents); Intel (claimant) against Parkervision in nullity suit over chip technology; HMD and Lenovo (defendants) against Voiceage over speech coding for mobile devices; Vestas (claimant and defendant) against GE and others over wind power plants; Hanwha Q-Cells (claimant) against various competitors over solar technology; Heckler & Koch (claimant) against Haenel over assault rifle. Prosecution: filing and oppositions for Amadeus, Heckler & Koch, Intel, Max&Co., Nokia, Novoluto, Rite-Hite, Vestas (all public knowledge); Intel (claimant) against Mahltig in opposition over remote IT management.