Each year JUVE Patent journalists conduct research into Europe’s most important patent markets: Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, the UK, and the Netherlands. Our reporting includes rankings, case reports and articles on current market developments.

For 2025, JUVE Patent published a ranking of the most renowned European law firms for UPC litigation for the first time.
In addition, JUVE Patent presents an annual award to the UPC Firm of the Year (Europe-wide), as well as the JUVE IP Law Firm of the Year (Germany) and Patent Law Firm of the Year (Germany).

In-depth research      

Each year JUVE Patent interviews thousands of in-house lawyers, international lawyers and patent attorneys. Our journalists attend numerous court hearings and report daily on important decisions by national courts, the Unified Patent Court and the European Patent Office. This information provides the basis for our rankings and market analysis, which currently portray and evaluate the market positions of over 400 different patent and law firms Europe-wide.

Various criteria play an important role when analysing the market position of a patent firm regarding UPC and national patent litigation and prosecution work. The relevance of individual aspects changes with the needs of the client. For example, the ability to provide efficient and competent advice on cross-border issues has increasingly become crucial, while the individual specialisations of lawyers must be coordinated through effective management. The presence of lawyers and patent attorneys in litigious disputes is of great importance, as is strategic portfolio management by patent attorneys.

The evaluation criteria in detail:

Legal and technical expertise forming the firm’s business.
Development of core areas to support clients in managing legal risks.
Ability to advise on cross-border matters, incl. UPC matters, at a high level.
Number of practitioners regarded as outstanding in patent law.

Consistently high quality standards in all technical fields.
Complexity and scope of work.
High level of service and flexibility.

Effective coordination of individual specialisations of lawyers and patent attorneys geared by the firm’s management and structure.
Stable and functional international contacts.
Nurturing quality client relationships.

Advance planning and identification of trends in the patent market and the clients’ respective markets.
Law and patent firm culture, strategy and philosophy represented and maintained by the firm’s lawyers. A sustainable structure that helps attract and retain high-quality junior lawyers.

Read more about the research criteria here.

Rankings and market research in the individual markets

The JUVE Patent rankings provide in-depth analysis of patent and law firms and their European strategies. Each year, JUVE Patent also lists the leading litigators and patent attorneys, as well as up-and-coming patent litigators, and takes a closer look at the most significant developments in the national patent markets.

The launch of the Unified Patent Court in June 2023 has brought changes to the European patent market. JUVE Patent is taking these changes into account and therefore adapting the publication of rankings to the current circumstances from 2025 onwards.

For 2025, JUVE Patent is publishing a ranking on the market for UPC litigation for the first time. This ranking analyses the work of UPC representatives before the new court and will be published annually. Accompanying articles provide important insights into market developments and the law firms active here.

In the future, JUVE Patent will only publish a ranking of the national markets in Austria, France, the UK, and the Netherlands every two years. Nevertheless, the editorial team will continue to follow these markets closely each year and, in the years between rankings, will publish specific reports on the most important developments on our news platform.

We also publish comprehensive market reports every year on the equally important patent markets in Italy and Scandinavia. JUVE Patent does not publish rankings for these markets or for other smaller European patent markets.

A ranking for the German market is published annually, on the Friday after the JUVE Awards in Frankfurt at the end of October.

JUVE Awards for IP firms and in-house

For many years, JUVE has awarded the title of JUVE IP Firm of the Year Germany as well as JUVE Patent Firm of the Year Germany for a firm’s work and achievements in the German market over the past year. The recipients are chosen from a pool of five nominees that have demonstrated a strong performance and strategic development in soft IP, patent law or both. The successful handling of prominent cases plays just as important a role here as the dynamic development of the IP or patent practice. If a firm’s performance in both areas of expertise is outstanding, it can be honoured with both awards.

JUVE has also bestowed an IP In-house Team of the Year Germany award. Here the winner is selected from five nominees doing outstanding work and making demonstrable dynamic growth. Teams in soft IP and the patent field can also be considered.

The selection of nominees and winners in the IP categories is based on extensive research conducted by JUVE Patent throughout the year. Annually, at end of October, the winners receive their awards at a ceremony with over 1000 guests at the Frankfurt Opera House.

The new JUVE Patent Award for UPC litigation

In December 2024, JUVE Patent also presented the JUVE Patent Award UPC Firm of the Year to a law firm for the first time. The new award recognises exceptional developments in connection with litigation at the Unified Patent Court, which commenced its work in June 2023.

The editorial team bestows this award for the dynamic development and strategic orientation of European law firms with regard to this new area of business, as well as a strong presence in UPC litigation and outstanding feedback from clients and competitors.