JUVE Comment

Hoyng ROKH Monegier invested early in mixed teams of lawyers and patent attorneys across multiple locations, actively promoting cross-border cooperation to gain a leading role in UPC cases from the get-go. These efforts continue to pay off. The firm emerged as one of the most active at the UPC and closed the gap to market leaders such as Bardehle Pagenberg and Bird & Bird.

The international IP boutique has successfully guided long-standing clients like Intel und Samsung to the European court, while also winning new clients like Amazon with its UPC expertise. In the complex, multi-jurisdictional dispute against InterDigital, Amazon relies on a team around renowned litigator Klaus Haft at the UPC and in Germany, while Amazon’s go-to firm Hogan Lovells is only involved in the UK proceedings against InterDigital.

Clients increasingly bank on Hoyng ROKH Monegier’s growing UPC experience and now regularly entrust it with follow-up work. For example, after representing Intel against Xiaomi, the client also retained the practice for its defense against Papst Licensing. Similarly, after its dispute with Ericsson, long-standing client Lenovo again relied on the IP firm for proceedings against Fraunhofer. On the other hand, Fujifilm who retained the team around Tobias Hahn for its dispute with Kodak, turned to Kather Augenstein in the appeal.

Hoyng ROKH Monegier increasingly represents pharma and biotech clients like Gilead and BioNTech (alongside Powell Gilbert) at the UPC, which were initially reluctant to litigate there. However, since pharma and biotech companies are now starting to use the UPC more frequently, the value of the firm’s contacts in the industry has become apparent. It is one of the most active teams at the UPC in this sector. The firm also handles cases across a broad range of technologies, from video coding (for Netflix) to household appliances (for Hurom).

Thanks to its substantial size, Hoyng ROKH Monegier can handle multiple major UPC proceedings simultaneously. The IP boutique skilfully leverages the long-established cooperation between its offices in different jurisdictions. This is particularly evident in its work for Amazon. For clients like Gilead, Samsung, and Intel, the firm also relies on the successful teamwork across Germany, France, and the Netherlands.

While its renown initially rested primarily on recognised German partner Haft, large-scale proceedings have raised the profile of the firm’s leadership. Other partners including life sciences expert Christine Kanz and Lars Baum now regularly lead proceedings at the UPC and are subsequently gaining in visibility. However, German partners are still in the lead in most cases, as the majority of these are heard at the German divisions.

Strengths

Litigation in international teams concerning pharma, electronics and telecom patents, including SEP and FRAND.

Recommended individuals

Sabine Agé (“at the forefront of cases filed at the Paris local division, knows the rules and the strategy”, competitor), Lars Baum (“clever, breaks things down to the core questions”, competitor), Klaus Haft (“great presence at the UPC, leading in mobile communications cases”, “his work is always excellent”, competitors), Christine Kanz

Team

65 lawyers, 12 patent attorneys

Partner moves

Thomas Becher (from Hoffmann Eitle)

Clients

Amazon against InterDigital over video streaming; Samsung against Headwater Research over smartphone operating system (partly settled 2025); Intel against Papst Licencing over computer technology; Lenovo against Ericsson over 5G network infrastructure (settled 2025) and against Fraunhofer over electronics; Sun Patent against Vivo Mobile Communication over electronics; Netflix against DivX over video coding; Keysight against Centripetal over network protection system; BioNTech against Promosome and against GSK over mRNA technology; Gilead against Academy of Military Medical Sciences over pharmaceuticals; Aorticlab against Emboline over medical devices; Eoflow against Insulet over insulin patch pumps; Air Liquide against Hoffman-La Roche over automated insulin pump.