JUVE Comment

Among pure patent attorney firms, Maikowski & Ninnemann has established itself as a key player at the UPC for mobile communications cases. The compact German team is clearly positioned on the side of implementers. Even compared to direct competitors such as Samson & Partner, which represents both sides, the firm boasts an impressive track record.

The team regularly represents clients including HP, Lenovo, Motorola, Oppo, Phoenix Contact, and Xiaomi in close collaboration with external lawyers, primarily from Hoyng ROKH Monegier, Freshfields, and Clifford Chance. This partnership has recently attracted new cases from US tech giant Apple and Chinese POS system manufacturer Sunmi.

Maikowski & Ninnemann is thus leveraging its experience from national proceedings at the UPC, where it is now predominantly active. Clients value Gunnar Baumgärtel’s team’s extensive expertise in defending against electronics disputes, particularly mobile communications. To date, the practice has not faced significant competition from patent attorneys in other UPC member states in its client relationships compared to national proceedings. This validates its strategy of technological focus coupled with a purely national positioning as an independent litigation boutique. The firm recently opened an office in Cologne, close to the UPC location in Düsseldorf, offering a unique selling point from a recruitment perspective.

Strengths

Litigation related to mobile communications, mostly for implementers.

Team

16 patent attorneys

Clients

Sunmi against Nokia over mobile communications; Apple against Headwater over mobile communications; Motorola and Lenovo against Headwater Research over mobile communications; Motorola and Lenovo against Innovative Sonic over mobile communications; Xiaomi and Oppo against Panasonic over mobile communications; Xiaomi against Nera over mobile communications; Xiaomi against Ueran over mobile communications; HP against Nokia over video coding; HP against Dolby over video coding; Lenovo against Asus over mobile communications; Becton Dickinson against Knapp Smart Solutions over storage technology; Phoenix Contact against ILME over electrical controller; Hisense against NEC over video coding; Hisense against Corning over boroalumino silicate glasses; Adin against Versah over filter production.