JUVE Comment

This small litigation team, which is well positioned in the Dutch market, is most visible in pharma cases. Its showpiece instruction is the litigation for Fresenius Kabi regarding pemetrexed. The firm is most active on the side of defendants even beyond this case. Besides cases in the life sciences industry, DLA also represents companies from other technological sectors, including luxury foods and shipping. The team is not yet visible, however, in the major mobile communication disputes in the Netherlands, though it has been able to establish initial ties with Apple, a regular client of the US practice. Dentons was instructed to secure documents in the Netherlands for US proceedings against Uniloc for the iPhone manufacturer. The NPE is exploiting former Philips patents. DLA suffered a setback, however, in its attempt to position its mixed approach in the Netherlands. Patent attorney and biotech specialist Johan Renes left the firm after three years and now works in-house. He partnered with Paul Reeskamp in a series of biotech proceedings. DLA therefore no longer offers prosecution work in the Netherlands.

Strengths

Patent litigation regarding pharma patents.

European strategy

Backed up by a strong US practice, DLA has expanded its European patent team. Today its European patent practice has more than 30 litigators working across six jurisdictions and is well positioned – especially in Germany. But there remains room for development in Amsterdam and Paris, especially in the tech field. The firm recently bolstered its London team with Deborah Bould from Pinsent Masons, who specializes in technology disputes. Although DLA is visible in Europe’s important patent jurisdictions, it does not yet operate there on a par with the market-leading European teams from Hogan Lovells and Allen & Overy. Both competitors are raising their profiles in major cross-border cases far more consistently than DLA, especially in pharmaceutical cases.

Recommended individuals

Paul Reeskamp

Team

1 partner, 1 legal director, 3 associates, 1 of counsel

Partner moves

Johan Renes (partially in-house and own firm)

Specialties

IP matters with a strong focus on patent litigation. Also entitlement actions and SPC cases.

Clients

Litigation: Fresenius Kabi (defendant) against Eli Lilly on preliminary injunction and main proceedings regarding cancer drug pemetrexed; MBH International (defendant) against Coloplast regarding ready-to-use urinary catheter assemblies; Scenic Biotech (defendant) against Vivoryon Therapeutiks regarding the scope and validity of a patent and scope of a research exemption regarding a cancer drug; Euro caps (claimant) in EPO opposition of coffee capsule patent owned by Alice Allison; Apple (claimant) against Philips on publication of documents concerning US claims over mobile devices; Asetek (claimant) against Cooler Master Europe over computer cooling technology.