JUVE Comment

After an ideal start at the UPC, this international law firm continues to build on its strong presence at the new court. The team is active in multiple extensive and complex proceedings in key industries such as pharma and mobile communications.

Following key client Abbott’s major dispute with Dexcom, which was settled in early 2025, Taylor Wessing remains a first port of call for the US life sciences company and is now representing it against various competitors over glucose-monitoring technology.

Taylor Wessing also maintains a close but non-exclusive client relationship with Pfizer, representing the US pharma company (alongside Hoyng ROKH Monegier representing co-plaintiff BioNTech) in a new attack against GSK over mRNA patents. This comes after a dispute between Pfizer and GSK over RSV vaccines was settled. The team’s pharma expertise was also sought in the dispute for Accord against Sanofi over cabazitaxel, before the client withdrew.

In the equally fiercely contested mobile communications sector, Taylor Wessing represents clients such as Ericsson and Oppo. The practice launched a campaign for Ericsson against Asus at the UPC local divisions in Lisbon and Milan and, more recently, further actions against Chinese mobile phone manufacturer Transsion. Although Dutch partner Wim Maas and the UK team have established strong ties to the Swedish company, Taylor Wessing does not works exclusively for Ericsson, which also relies on Kather Augenstein. The firms often collaborate, such as in the Transsion case.

Many of the UPC proceedings Taylor Wessing is involved in currently run parallel to cases in German national courts and other jurisdictions, such as the Netherlands or the UK. The international team is ideally positioned for companies pursuing such dual litigation strategies. This is particularly true given the firm’s coordinated approach to international teamwork, a strategy rivaled by few competitors, such as Bird & Bird.

The firm is actively driving forward its strategic international expansion. It filled a crucial gap in its network by launching a Paris patent practice with a team from Pinsent Masons led by the experienced lawyer Jules Fabre, securing a presence in one of the UPC’s key venues. Furthermore, the Dutch practice was strengthened with the addition of renowned litigator Bas Berghuis van Woortman and patent attorney Sebastian Versaevel of Simmons & Simmons, bolstering one of its key UPC pillars. With the latter and another patent attorney at the Eindhoven office, the practice, which previously only included lawyers, now also includes technically qualified litigators.

However, Taylor Wessing’s German practice suffered a significant setback with the departure of a substantial team. Alongside renowned senior partners Christian Lederer and Dietrich Kamlah, up-and-coming partners Anja Lunze and Jan Phillip Rektorschek left to establish their own practice under the brand Pentarc. As a result, the Munich team lost prominent partners and a young litigation team with extensive experience and established contacts to clients in mobile communications and video technology, including Samsung, Transsion, and Disney.

Taylor Wessing manages to use less-frequented UPC locations for its clients. For example, the Dutch partner Maas is leading an extensive litigation campaign for Ericsson together with lawyers from the Netherlands, UK, Austria, and Germany at the local division Milan. In these lawsuits, the firm also tested the Lisbon local division with a PI procedure and worked with the local law firm Abreu Advogados. Only a few competitors, such as Powell Gilbert, are as present at so many different UPC locations as Taylor Wessing. With this breadth, the large international team is ideally positioned to help clients make even greater use of the UPC in the coming years.

Strengths

Internationally integrated lawyer team for UPC litigation, particularly mobile communications and pharma.

Recommended individuals

Thomas Adocker,Christian Dekoninck (“strong advocacy skills in court”, “experienced in UPC PI proceedings”, competitors), Wim Maas

Team

40 lawyers, 2 patent attorneys

Partner moves

Bas Berghuis van Woortman, Sebastian Versaevel (both from Simmons & Simmons), Jules Fabre (from Pinsent Masons), Christian Lederer, Dr. Anja Lunze, Dietrich Kamlah, Dr. Thomas Pattloch, Dr. Jan Rektorschek (all to Pentarc), Eelco Bergsma (to Ericsson)

Clients

Abbott Laboratories against Menarini, Sinocare and SiBionics over glucose-monitoring devices; Advanced Brain Monitoring against Philips over sleep position therapy; Accord and Zentiva against Sanofi over cabazitaxel (partly settled 2025); Accord against Novartis over administration of nilotinib with apple sauce (settled 2025); Pfizer against GlaxoSmithKline over mRNA patents; Pfizer against GlaxoSmithKline over RSV vaccines (settled 2025); Tandem Diabetes Care against F. Hoffman-La Roche over dosing pumps for administering insulin (settled 2025); Ericsson against Asus, Arvato, and Digital River Ireland over semiconductors in mobile devices; Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft against Huawei over telecommunications; Cloudflare against Aylo over information technology; Ecovacs against Papst Licensing over autonomous mobile robots; Chint Astronergy Group against JA Solar over solar panels.