JUVE Comment

The Munich litigation team at this pan-European IP boutique has successfully leveraged its strong relationships with Asian implementers to secure a prominent role in major mobile communications cases at the UPC. The team represents ZTE against Samsung in an intensively fought cross-border battle over mobile communications SEPs, including proceedings at the UPC. Taliens works alongside Vossius & Brinkhof litigators and Powell Gilbert for its long-standing client.

The team around Thomas Lynker is also defending Acer against Nokia. In this cross-border dispute, Taliens cooperates with patent attorneys from German firm Glawe Delfs Moll and international firm Morgan Lewis.

Lynker’s reputation in the SEP field has enabled the team to successfully transfer its excellent standing in national SEP disputes to the new European court. The case for Mala against Nokia, one of the firm’s first UPC cases, has since diminished in significance.

Taliens’ UPC work currently centres on the Munich team, with occasional activity outside the SEP sector, such as representing Positec in a dispute over gardening tools. While the Paris office is not currently handling any UPC proceedings at its local division, it works alongside the Munich team for ZTE. However, closer cooperation between Paris and Munich could enhance the firm’s UPC visibility, particularly in technical areas beyond computers, software and mobile communications.

The work for key UPC clients ZTE and Acer has again highlighted that the firm must grow strategically to handle major international cases and remain attractive for such large-scale proceedings in the long term. Clients specifically instruct the Munich team for these economically significant cases due to their valued SEP expertise. However, with only seven lawyers, Taliens remains too small to handle multiple cases simultaneously. One in-house lawyer, who is not a client, says of the practice: “Extremely good, always top in FRAND, but unfortunately the team is too small.”

The Munich team has taken a first step towards handling key instructions with two partners through an internal partner appointment. As Taliens repeatedly attracts merger interest from UK and US law firms seeking to expand their German and UPC litigation business, the Munich-based team faces the question of how long it can maintain the delicate balance between international business and national independence. For now, Taliens remains committed to its independence.

Strengths

SEP litigation for both patent holders and implementers.

Recommended individuals

Thomas Lynker (“thorough understanding of each case, gets straight to the point”, “very deep understanding of SEP litigation, especially at the UPC”, competitors)

Team

7 lawyers

Clients

ZTE Corporation against Samsung Electronics over 4G and 5G mobile communications standards; Acer against Nokia Technologies over video codec standard; Total Semiconductor against Texas Instruments over microprocessors; Mala against Nokia over telecommunications; Positec against Husqvarna over gardening tools.