JUVE Comment

This international law firm has built up a successful tech litigation team in its German line-up around Jan Ebersohl and Denise Benz. This year, the team once again demonstrated its ambitions by representing Samsung in its lawsuit against ZTE in the German part of a major global mobile communications dispute. The momentum is largely driven by regular clients such as Samsung Electronics and Samsung Displays. A&O Shearman also celebrated a success for Giesenke & Devigent in relation to banknotes. Meanwhile, the team has recently gained the trust of clients from the medical technology sector.

The life sciences team led by Stephan Neuhaus continues to be heavily involved in coordinating Europe-wide litigation for Bayer concerning its top-selling blockbuster Xarelto. In Germany, the proceedings have recently become important again at the Federal Patent Court. Thanks to this experience, the team is excellently positioned to coordinate similar lawsuits for originators in the future.

The expansion with a second partner in life sciences did not work out, as they left the firm after less than a year. In the long term, however, sustainable expansion with another partner, either through organic growth or a lateral hire, would be an interesting strategic option to strengthen the impact of the life sciences group.

Since the merger, A&O Shearman as a whole has faced overarching issues due to the greater visibility in the US and the political challenges, but the German patent team has so far remained unaffected. The merger has not greatly strengthened the firm’s patent litigation team in terms of size, but it has increased its visibility and contacts with companies overall.

European set-up

A&O Shearman is pursuing two different paths in its European setup. While the patent litigators in the life sciences group are closely involved in pan-European pharmaceutical battles for originators, the tech group is less active collectively. However, the team led by Denise Benz and Jan Ebersohl is already handling a significant number of UPC cases. These include, for example, Dish vs Aylo concerning video streaming, as well as several proceedings for long-standing client Samsung, including against ZTE.

Life sciences partner Neuhaus, on the other hand, is drawing on the firm’s network and gaining initial experience at the UPC with a first case involving batteries. This is valuable, as the battles for pharmaceutical originators will continue to be fought in national courts for the foreseeable future.

Although A&O has established patent litigation teams in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, and the UK with well-known regular clients, the team has been less visible at the start of the UPC than competitors such as Hogan Lovells or Bird & Bird. Most recently, the team in Paris lost its renowned litigation partner David Por to Clifford Chance. However, the team has recently regained ground with its involvement in new proceedings.

Strengths

Litigation related to mobile communications patents, as well as biotech and pharmaceuticals on the originator side.

Recommended individuals

Denise Benz (“good quality work”, client), Jan Ebersohl, Stephan Neuhaus (“great personality, dedicated lawyer with much experience”, client)

Team

10 lawyers, 2 patent attorneys

Partner moves

Anna Wolters-Höhne (to Bird & Bird)

Clients

Litigation: Bayer against Accord, Betapharm and others over treatment of thromboembolic disorders rivaroxaban/Xarelto; Mundipharma against Glenmark Pharmaceuticals in damages proceedings; DISH Media/Sling TV against Aylo over adaptive bit rate video streaming; Synaptics (co-defendant of Google) against Philips concerning mobile communications (settled 2024); Sunwoda Electronic against Tulip over lithium-ion batteries; frequent litigation for Google, Samsung, Giesecke+Devrient, Hoffmann-La Roche (public knowledge).