JUVE Comment

Carpmaels & Ransford is one of the few UK firms to have made a successful start at the UPC. It was present very early on in the UPC’s very first life sciences disputes, which took place before the German divisions. These include the epic battle over the cholesterol-lowering drug evolocumab/Praluent. Carpmaels & Ransford had previously advised Sanofi-Aventis and Regeneron in national and EPO proceedings together with Hoffmann Eitle.

When Sanofi and Amgen decided to escalate their dispute to the UPC, the law firm was again present at the central and local divisions in Munich, representing Sanofi-Aventis and Regeneron. The mixed law firm also had a very early appearance at the Düsseldorf local division for CurioBioscience against 10X Genomics. This was rather a small UPC case for Carpmaels, yet nevertheless noteworthy for the firm not having called in local counsel. The firm is thus confident in its ability to appear before German divisions with a predominantly British team. Carpmaels & Ransford relies on its independence and good relations with other European law firms, without entering into exclusive ties.

The UK firm is also representing Novartis (together with Freshfields) against Celltrion, but suffered a setback when the Düsseldorf local division rejected two PI requests in the first instance. Carpmaels has nevertheless successfully transfered its traditionally strong position among pharmaceutical originators to the UPC. After Brexit it was uncertain whether this would be possible, as UK firms initially seemed to be excluded from the UPC. But Carpmaels & Ransford found creative ways into the new system.

Except in the Novartis vs Celltrion case, French-qualified litigator Agathe Michel-de Cazotte acts in all UPC cases alongside Carpmael’s highly litigation-experienced European patent attorneys such as Cameron Marshall. Partner Michel-de Cazotte is also experienced in German and UK patent law. Hiring her in 2022 was part of the mixed practice’s strategy to secure a good presence in UPC cases. A Dublin office ensures that some of the firm’s UK solicitors can take the Irish route to gain admittance to the UPC. They work intensively for Sanofi-Aventis, for example. Many of the firm’s European patent attorneys are also registered UPC representatives.

Strengths

Pharma and bitech disputes for originators

Recommended individuals

Agathe Michel-de Cazotte (“very impressive grounding in, and knowledge of, the UPC”, ”has done a nice job on the defendant side”, clients), Cameron Marshall, Daniel Wise (“as a patent attorney he has very good litigation skills”, client)

Team

14 lawyers, 90 patent attorneys, 1 dual qualified

Clients

Sanofi-Aventis and Regeneron against Amgen over cholesterol-lowering drug evolocumab/Praluent; Cuirio Bioscience against 10X Genomics over a method and product for localised or spatial detection of nucleic acid in a tissue sample; bioMérieux against Labrador Diagnostics over diagnostic devices; Novartis and Regeneron against Celltrion over a biosimilar of asthma drug Xolair.