JUVE Comment

This small but exceptional litigation practice, led by patent attorneys, has rapidly evolved from an insider tip at the UPC’s launch to one of the most established and experienced teams in UPC litigation. The success of the team, headed by name partner Bernhard Thum, stems from its involvement in numerous high-profile UPC proceedings and its technical expertise in medtech and related fields such as vaping. Thum & Partner effectively combines this knowledge with extensive experience in complex EPO oppositions.

Notable clients strategically engage this IP boutique to supplement their counsel for specific patents in litigation series coordinated and conducted by larger law firms. These clients include vaping manufacturers JUUL International and VMR Products. For both, Thum & Partner forms part of the coordinating team alongside Tobias Wuttke and Tilman Müller from Bardehle Pagenberg.

Another example is the equally extensive dispute between Edwards and Meril over prosthetic heart valves. Edwards enlisted the patent attorneys around Thum to supplement the litigators from Bird & Bird and the coordinating firm Powell Gilbert. Both sets of proceedings have progressed through several stages at the UPC. Meanwhile, litigation for Advanced Bionics regarding cochlear implants has gained momentum, with Thum & Partner collaborating with Kirkland Ellis, Kather Augenstein, Dehns, and Hogan Lovells.

The team around by Jonas Weickert has drawn attention with its representation of Papst Licensing against Roborock and Ecovacs over floor cleaning robots, and Knapp against Becton Dickinson Rowa over automated picking systems. In both cases, the team works alongside the equally up-and-coming team from CBH.

Strengths

Strong in UPC cases concerning medtech patents.

Recommended individuals

Bernhard Thum (“excellent grasp of the legal and technical issues, commercially minded and practical, wealth of UPC experience, good in oral arguments”, competitor)

Team

8 patent attorneys

Clients

Edwards against Meril over prosthetic heart valves; Juul International against NJOY over vaping; VMR against NJOY over vaping; Advances Bionics against MED-EL over cochlear implants; Quantificare against Canfield over portable stereophoto-grammetry; Papst Licensing against Roborock and Ecovacs over floor cleaning robots; Knapp against Becton Dickinson Rowa over automated picking systems; BSH against Beko over food steamers.