JUVE Comment

This Munich IP firm is one of the busiest litigation outfits in Germany. Its patent attorneys are regularly active in EPO oppositions and nullity actions, particularly regarding electronics patents, for core clients such as Huawei, Tridonic and Zumtobel. The firm has recently expanded its litigation work to include chemistry, for example for Firmenich.

Last year, the biggest success for the patent attorneys was the settlement between Huawei and AVM/Fritzbox in April. Huawei is also one of the firm’s biggest prosecution clients, including in nullity proceedings and EPO oppositions.

However, it also shows the extent of competition for litigation, as Mitscherlich is involved in the national proceedings against Netgear, but not the parallel UPC proceedings. Mitscherlich also regularly represents its medium-sized regular clients in mixed teams with its own lawyers. This could be given a boost by the UPC.

European set-up

The mixed law firm Mitscherlich has got off to a good start at the UPC and has already filed two lawsuits for European SMEs taking action against Chinese competitors. It is representing Grundfos against Hefei in a case concerning pump technology and Tridonic against Cupower in a case concerning lighting technology. Both proceedings show that the new court, with its promise of fast proceedings, can be of interest to SMEs from very different sectors and that Mitscherlich, as a national IP firm, can position itself as a suitable representative for these clients.

However, the firm must consider investing in growth if the team is to handle several such proceedings simultaneously, and in addition to its ongoing litigation work. Competition is high for both lawyers and patent attorneys.

Strengths

Litigation regarding electronics and mobile communication patents.

Recommended individuals

Martin Körber,Thomas Körfer, Christian Rupp (both patent attorneys)

Team

24 patent attorneys, 4 lawyers

Clients

Litigation: Huawei against AVM (settled 2024), Netgear and Exertis over wi-fi 6 technology; Tridonic against TCI over LEDs; Tridonic against Ikea over retrofit lights. EPO oppositions: Cargill against Europharma over fish feed; Cargill against Stim over smoltification method in salmon; Revlon against Kao Corporation over haircare product; Eckart against BASF/Sun Chemical over pigments.