JUVE Comment

When the Dutch law firm Brinkhof and the German firm Vossius & Partner announced in 2022 that they would handle all UPC cases together, the aim was to be at the forefront of the UPC litigation market. Under their umbrella brand Vossius & Brinkhof UPC litigators, the two law firms have not fully accomplished this yet. Although their lawyers are jointly involved in numerous UPC proceedings, law firms such as Bardehle Pagenberg and Taylor Wessing have secured an even larger share of the UPC pie.

That said, the negligible gap to the very top of the market belies the fact that both law firms got off to a very good start. This was not only due to their involvement in major disputes for Oppo against Panasonic, for Agfa against Gucci or for Roku and Optoma against Dolby, but also because, with one exception, they work together on all cases.

Many competitors had dismissed the Vossius & Brinkhof UPC Litigators brand as a marketing gimmick. But only in the case for Amgen is Koen Bijvank instructed as a Brinkhof lawyer rather than under the brand, due to a conflict.

The seriousness with which the two law firms are pursuing their joint approach was evident in the courtroom for Amycel in a case concerning fungi patents, for Ballinno over the use of VAR technology, and not least for Oppo’s dispute with Panasonic. Here, a team led by German lawyer Andreas Kramer and Dutch lawyer Daan de Lange shared the technical and FRAND arguments for Oppo in the UPC’s first major FRAND hearing. An in-house lawyer from another company attested to their good teamwork. With only a few exceptions – for example, for Ballinno – Vossius’ litigation-experienced patent attorneys also work on the cases as standard.

Currently, Vossius & Brinkhof UPC Litigators is active at the UPC to a much greater degree than other law firm cooperations, such as Gide x Regimbeau or EIP Amar.

Strengths

Litigation across a broad technical spectrum. Integrated pan-European approach, including patent attorneys.

Recommended individuals

Koen Bijvank (“very impressive litigator”, client), Andreas Kramer (“impressive in the courtroom for Oppo”, client; “impressive in SEP proceedings, not only on technical issues but also on FRAND”, competitor), Daan de Lange (“excellent lawyer”, client; “his quality of work is very good”, competitor),

Team

28 lawyers, 49 patent attorneys, 2 dual qualified

Clients

Oppo against Panasonic over patents relevant for the WCDMA and LTE standards (stayed in 2024); Oppo against KPN over multimedia streaming and the WebRTC standard; Roku and Optoma against Dolby over video streaming technology (both settled in 2024); Ballinno against Kineox over the use of VAR technology; AGFA against Gucci over printing technology for handbags; Amycel against Spyra regarding patentability of fungi; Bridgewake and Advancis Medical against BSN Medical over wound therapies; Empoline against AorticLab ober catheter technology; GXD-Bio Corporation against Myriad Genetics over breast cancer diagnostic devices; Iscar against Walter over metal cutting tools.