JUVE Comment

This strongly positioned IP boutique in Berlin nurtures a mixed approach and traditionally boasts a solid base of Asian clients, which include notable Chinese companies from the telecoms sector. The case for Haier against Sisvel, in which a constitutional complaint is pending, put Gulde & Partner on the map for SEP disputes in Germany.

Further infringement proceedings – for TCL and its subsidiary TCT, for example – underpinned the reputation of the team around litigator Scheffler in telecommunications and FRAND issues. Defendant Xiaomi also banked on this experience in an action against WSOU that has since been settled. As it did in this case, Gulde & Partner often works with lawyers from IP boutique Klaka.

In addition, the firm operates a very active patent filing and prosecution practice in a broad range of technologies. The close connections to Asian companies, underlined by the firm’s offices in Beijing and Yokohama, are evident here too. The Samsung Group and various subsidiaries are among the long-standing clients represented in EPO oppositions. When it comes to infringement proceedings, however, Samsung relies on the patent attorneys from Zimmermann & Partner. The patent attorneys are also far less visible in patents from the fields of pharma and life sciences.

Strengths

Patent litigation and prosecution related to electronics and telecoms patents. Strong presence among Asian companies.

European set-up

Gulde is a national IP firm with a strong focus on patent prosecution and litigation for German clients. The firm also nurtures close contacts with Asian clients, especially Samsung and TCL, via its offices in China and Japan.

Gulde rarely appears in the German part of extensive pan-European litigation. This may be because it tends to cooperate in infringement suits with small German boutiques like Klaka, who are chiefly active in national proceedings.

With strong direct ties to Asian clients, the mixed approach and dual-qualified lawyer and patent attorney Scheffler who is experienced in litigation, Gulde is well set for UPC cases. But the firm will have to grow further and establish a better international network of similar firms to handle large-scale series of proceedings at the new court.

Recommended individuals

Marco Scheffler, Sönke Lorenz (patent attorney), Martin Thimm (“extremely good technical understanding in mobile communications”, competitor; patent attorney)

Team

24 patent attorneys, 3 lawyers

Specialties

All-round IP activity. Patent prosecution with technical specialties in chemicals, pharmaceuticals, electronics and IT. Licences, nullity suits and infringement proceedings, partially with the firm’s own lawyers.

Clients

Litigation: TCT (defendant) against Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft over mobile communication and data compression; TCL (defendant) against Panasonic, IP Bridge and NEC over AVC technology (settled 2021); Haier (defendant) against Sisvel over SEPs for advanced audio coding (complaint before the Federal Constitutional Court); Hisense (defendant) against IP Bridge over mobile communications (settled 2021). Prosecution: filing and oppositions for Appotronics, Autel Robotics, BYD, Eckert & Ziegler, Imperial Tobacco, Japan Super Quartz, Native Instruments, SDI, Sitech, Siemens, Tasly, Volkswagen, various Samsung subsidiaries; filing for Denka, Jabil, Life Technologies, Pangang Group, SDI, Yantai Shougang Magnetic Materials.