JUVE Comment

This well-positioned, pure patent attorney firm is an insiders’ tip in the Munich market for mobile communications cases. But, with regular work in NPE suits involving SEPs and FRAND for Xiaomi and TCL, it is emerging as a real alternative to the large patent attorney practices with litigation expertise in this sector, such as Samson & Partner and df-mp. MFG has a much lower headcount than the market leaders and has not been active in this segment for as long, so its clout is therefore still limited.

MFG name partners Frank Meyer-Wildhagen and Martin Meggle-Freund nevertheless quickly made a name for themselves in representing Asian implementers. Till Gerhard is known as an expert for SEP matters in the automotive industry and has an excellent relationship with Volkswagen. In litigation the MFG name partners often work with teams of lawyers in Munich, for example from Noerr, Simmons & Simmons or Taliens.

When it comes to patent prosecution work the patent attorneys have excellent connections to Asian companies, especially from Japan. These instruct the firm for patent filing in electronics, IT and telecoms. The firm filed many patents at the EPO for Sony and Konica Minolta, for example.

Strengths

Patent prosecution in automotive, electronics and telecoms. Mobile communications cases on the implementer side.

Recommended individuals

Till Gerhard, Frank Meyer-Wildhagen, Martin Meggle-Freund (“presents his cases very well, has extensive litigation experience”, competitor)

Team

4 patent attorneys

Specialties

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

Clients

Litigation: Xiaomi and TCL (defendants) against VoiceAge EVS over speech codecs for mobile phones; Xiaomi (defendant) against Sisvel over UMTS and LTE standards (settled 2021); TCL (defendant) against MPEG LA over digital video-coding standard H.264 (settled 2021); Centripetal (claimant) against Cisco over technology for network security; Welfit Oddy (defendant) against Van Hool over transport containers; Enovsys (claimant) against Deutsche Telekom over data security in mobile location technology; Continental Grafix (claimant) against Schmich in nullity suit over technology for film systems; Carbo (opponent) against Natura Foodtec in EPO opposition over technology for CO2 application. Advice: Volkswagen regularly on SEP litigation. Prosecution: filing for Joled, Konica Minolta, Sony, Tadano, Volkswagen (all public knowledge).