JUVE Comment

With a strong presence, especially in pharmaceutical cases, Hogan Lovells’ Amsterdam patent team remains hot on the heels of the two firms at the top of the Dutch litigation market.

The firm’s entire European litigation practice has a strong footprint in dealing with cross-border life science disputes for manufacturers of originator drugs, biosimilars and medical devices. The Amsterdam team plays an important role, steering some of Europe’s most prominent disputes together with the Düsseldorf and London offices. MSD, Eli Lilly and a US pharma corporation are among the key clients.

For Eli Lilly, the Amsterdam partners fought long and very successfully as part of a pan-European team until the dispute over blockbuster pemetrexed was settled. The Amsterdam team is now also working for Angiocare, the Dutch distributor of Meril Life Sciences. This client is represented by Hogan Lovells in other countries in the dispute with Edwards Lifesciences over heart valves, but is not being sued in the Netherlands.

Hogan Lovells has also been able to consistently represent clients across multiple jurisdictions in mobile communications suits for many years. The partners are chiefly active on the side of implementors. The Dutch and German team works, for example, for HTC and Oppo in lawsuits by SEP holders. The Amsterdam partners were also active for BKK in a series of suits by Sisvel over SEPs before the Dutch patent courts.

However, the team has been unable to close the gap on Brinkhof and Hoyng ROKH Monégier. It was not nearly as visible in mobile communications suits as the two leading boutiques. One reason for this may be that Apple – another regular client of the European practice – currently has no proceedings at the Dutch patent courts. In addition, the two market leaders are growing their partnerships at a faster pace than is currently possible for the Hogan Lovells patent team as part of an international full-service firm.

But in terms of its flexibility in handling a variety of patent cases, Hogan Lovells is in no way inferior to its two main rivals. The partners Klaas Bisschop, Bert Oosting and Ruud van der Velden handled cases spanning a wide technical spectrum, for instance for Kindermann regarding presentation systems and for Rhodia regarding earth oxides for exhaust catalysts.

Strengths

Patent disputes regarding mobile communications and for innovator pharmaceutical companies, including cross-border litigation. Advice on emerging industries such as biotechnology.

European strategy

Hogan Lovells has a truly cross-border litigation team, which operates at the top of the European market. Between London, Düsseldorf, Munich and Amsterdam it is homogeneous, something reflected in its international presence in important pharmaceutical, mobile communications and electronics cases. The team is active across borders, for instance for Apple, Eli Lilly, MSD, Hoffmann LaRoche, HTC and Vodafone.

The team is also present at all relevant potential UPC locations. In Germany Hogan Lovells belongs to the leading teams in the market; in France, the Netherlands and the UK the firm is a fierce challenger of the market-leading firms. Hogan Lovells has a smaller, but also very well-established team in Milan. The firm has recently strengthened its practice in Madrid with a second partner promotion.

When it comes to building up a patent attorney practice across Europe, however, main competitor Bird & Bird is ahead; Hogan Lovells only began a few years ago to expand its patent attorney arm in Germany. The Dutch partners use their technical support more often than before, especially in mobile communication cases.

Looking across the Atlantic Ocean, Hogan Lovells is far ahead of competitors Bird & Bird, Allen & Overy and Freshfields in transatlantic work thanks to its well-established US patents practice.

Recommended individuals

Bert Oosting, Klaas Bisschop (“one of the go-to litigators in Holland”, competitor), Ruud van der Velden (“very impressive lawyer”, competitor),

Team

3 partners, 5 associates, 1 counsel

Specialties

Specialties in the pharmaceutical, medical devices and telecommunications sector. Coordination of cross-border litigation for a European and global client base. Innovator pharmaceuticals and multi-party disputes.

Clients

Litigation: Amgen/Shire-NPS (defendant) against Accord regarding cincalcet patent for parathyroid hormone level reducer Mimpara (partly setlled in 2021); Eli Lilly (claimant) regarding cancer drug pemetrexed (settled 2021) and tadalafil; MSD (claimant) against Wyeth/Pfizer relating to pneumococcal vaccines; Vivoryon (claimant) against Scenic Biotech and others over patents for treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and cancer; Angiocare (defendant) against Edwards Lifesciences over heart valves; Kindermann (defendant) against Barco regarding presentation systems; Oppo (defendant) against Sharp concerning LTE standards; BKK (defendant) against Sisvel over mobile communication technology (settled 2021); Rhodia (claimant) against Neo Performance Materials over earth oxides for exhaust gas catalysts; frequent litigation for Hoffmann-La Roche, HTC.