French IP firm merger creates new Santarelli Group

IP firms Santarelli, Ipside and Brevalex have joined forces to become a new French patent attorney firm, Santarelli Group. The new outfit, which is located along Paris’ famous Avenue des Champs-Élysées, rivals other French firms Plasseraud and Lavoix in terms of size.

The resulting mixed firm also has a Chinese office of twelve professionals, as well as a smaller office in Las Vegas. Here, the firm has just one patent attorney.

Christophe Cornuéjols

Firms behind Santarelli Group

Pure patent attorney firm Santarelli has several offices in France and is well-known for its specialty in pharma, biotech and life sciences. Following the merger, managing partner Luc Santarelli and Éric Augarde from Brevalex will lead the patent team.

Santarelli traditionally also enjoys a strong position in trademark law. One of France’s long-established names in IP, in 2003 a merger with firms Rinuy and Bonnet-Thirion previously bolstered the firm’s capabilities.

Santarelli’s client base is predominantly comprised of medium-sized and large companies.

Luc Santarelli

Christophe Cornuejols, who currently manages Ipside, will take over as president of the new firm. With 16 patent attorneys and five lawyers, Ipside brings a mixed firm approach to the new team.

International offering

The addition of Ipside also rounds off the international setup of the new outfit. It boasts offices in Chengdu and Shenzhen, in China, which opened in 2015. The firm also has a small office in the US.

Ipside, which is broadly positioned in IP and covers many technical fields, is particularly well-known for its telecommunications and electronics practice.

Éric Augarde

The firm has numerous diverse clients, including many start-ups.

However, Brevalex is more patent-focused. Its addition to the group means close ties to numerous large corporations in the client portfolio.

The merger of the three firms will operate under the name Santarelli Group. For the time being, the two other firm names will continue as trademarks. (Co-author: Konstanze Richter)

JUVE Patent’s France Ranking 2021 provides an overview of the French firms active in patent filing and litigation. Read the analysis of France’s patent firms here.