JUVE Comment

From the start, Cohausz & Florack positioned itself among the most active patent attorney firms at the UPC with established litigators across all technical fields. The Düsseldorf-based outfit continues to pursue its proven model of cooperating with external law firms, with which it maintains long-established contacts. The firm continues to attract praise, with one in-house counsel highlighting it as an “absolute top-team”.

The electrical engineering practice has made an especially strong start at the UPC, handling cases involving mobile communications, SEPs and semiconductors – usually for patent holders. This is demonstrated by its continued work for regular client Nokia, which it represents alongside Arnold Ruess against Warner Brothers. Together with Bird & Bird the patent attorneys are also active for Nokia against Hisense, Acer and Asus. It also represents Celerity IP/Innovative Sonic and Ueran Technology alongside Wildanger, Kehrwald Graf v. Schwerin.

Cohausz & Florack also represented clients from other sectors at the new court, for example BASF in its first UPC case concerning polymer chemistry. The team continues to handle litigation concerning e-cigarettes for NJOY and medical 3D-printing technology for CEAD, thus demonstrating its wide range of technical expertise.

While the firm’s life sciences specialists are active for EuroBio Scientific, pharmaceutical and biotech companies remain cautious about the UPC, resulting in less activity in this area. But three years in, the number of pharma cases are gradually increasing. If the team can now leverage its deep life sciences expertise to secure more pharma, biotech and medtech cases at the UPC, it has the potential to close the gap to the European market leaders. The appointment of Arwed Burrichter as a technical judge at the UPC, however, raises the potential for conflicts of interest, even if these have not yet become apparent.

Strengths

Litigation related to mobile communications for SEP holders and regarding software and electronics.

Recommended individuals

Christoph Walke (“our best patent attorney, translates technology so lawyers can understand it”, client; “top-notch strategist”, competitor), Lars Grannemann (“super”, client; “highly structured and solution-oriented thinker”, competitor)

Team

31 patent attorneys

Clients

BASF against Huntsman over polymer chemistry; EuroBio Scientific against GXD-Bio Corporation over pharma/diagnostics; CEAD against BEGO Medical over 3D-printing technology; Nokia against Warner Brothers over video streaming technology; Nokia against Hisense over video coding; Celerity IP/Innovative Sonic against Lenovo/Motorola, Oppo and Xiaomi over 4G and 5G standards; UERAN Technology against Xiaomi over mobile communications (4G and 5G); Essity/BSN medical against Brightwake and Advancis over wound care technology; NJOY against Juul Labs and VMR Products over vaping devices; Stellantis against Broadcom/Avago over semiconductors (settled 2025); Magna against Valeo over automotive parts (settled 2025).