Hoffmann Eitle and König Szynka unite top pharma teams

For many years, König Szynka has been one of the best-known patent attorney firms in Germany. This is despite its relatively small size with only 13 patent attorneys, one lawyer and two offices in Düsseldorf and Munich. But at the end of January, the firm will dissolve.

Its Munich team, led by senior partner Dirk Szynka, will operate independently under the name Szynka Smorodin. It will focus on classic technologies such as mechanics and mechanical engineering. In February, the larger Düsseldorf team around Gregor König will join forces with Hoffmann Eitle. Both sides announced the changes today.

Both Hofmman Eitle and König Szynka have well-known specialties in pharmaceutical and biotech patents and the related litigation. Gregor König, Dorothea von Renesse and Carla Roth will join Hoffmann Eitle as equity partners. They are among the best known advisors for patent prosecution and litigation in the life sciences sector. Eight other patent attorneys and one lawyer will follow.

Focus on life science originators

Hoffmann Eitle boasts a large life sciences team with prominent names such as Thorsten Bausch, Mark Jones, Matthias Kindler, Peter Klusmann, Leo Polz, Andreas Stefferl and Joseph Taormino. Hoffmann Eitle is one of Europe’s most high-profile patent attorney firms in prosecution and litigation for companies in the life sciences industry. It also has a notable team of lawyers active here around Niels Hölder and Dirk Schüßler-Langeheine.

The new team around Gregor König will add further breadth to the Munich-based law firm’s eminent specialty. Both teams predominantly represent originators.

For years, Hoffmann Eitle has counted Allergan, Boehringer Ingelheim, Krka, Latvia MGI, Moderna, Sanofi and Regeneron among its clients, as well as Japanese industry giants such as Daiichi Sankyo and Takeda. In addition, the firm is active for medical device manufacturers such as Dexcom.

Joint UPC litigation

The two firms have recently worked together on a number of high-profile cases. For example, they are representing Moderna together with Freshfields in a dispute with BioNTech over mRNA vaccines for COVID-19. Sanofi and Regeneron also instructed both firms for the infringment and revocation proceedings at the UPC against Amgen over cholesterol-lowering drug Praluent. Initially, Sanofi and Regeneron relied on mixed teams from Carpmaels and Hoffmann Eitle, but also brought in a team led by Gregor König in the course of the UPC case.

However, the two firms have also acted on opposing sides at the UPC. For example, in the PI dispute over biosimilar drug Soliris for the treatment of rare blood diseases, a team around Gregor König represented Alexion while Hoffmann Eitle partner Leonard Werner-Jones represented Samsung Bioepis.

The new team’s focus on pharmaceutical originators will likely result in some conflicts of interest. The König Szynka team has already announced it will no longer be able to represent Alexion, for example.

However, König’s team also brings very close ties to the Bayer Group, Eli Lilly and Grünthal as well as numerous biotech companies such as Toolgen. Takeda was also a client of the Düsseldorf law firm.

Clear balance of power

The twelve fee earners from König Szynka join a much larger team at Hoffmann Eitle. The new constellation will inlcude more than 150 patent attorneys and lawyers, with 80 of these focusing on life sciences.

Hoffmann Eitle maintains three German offices in Munich, Hamburg and Düsseldorf. The two Düsseldorf offices are to gradually merge and move into a joint premises in the medium term.

Internationally, Hoffmann Eitle also has offices in Amsterdam, Barcelona, London, Madrid, and Milan. It has always established these under its own steam and then strengthened them with lateral hires, such as lately in London. This is the first time Hoffmann Eitle has added a larger team of lateral hires in Germany.

Investing in the future

König Szynka, on the other hand, has recently found it increasingly difficult to grow and to retain a critical mass of patent attorneys for the complex UPC proceedings.

Name partner Max Tilmann, who is active in mechanics, left the partnership when the UPC launched. He is now a technically qualified judge at the UPC.

The decision to join the significantly larger Hoffmann Eitle was therefore likely strategic. It ought to enable the formation of appropriately large teams for UPC proceedings and thus further ensure the quality of clients and advice.

New boutique in Munich

The Munich team led by Dirk Szynka, however, will enter the market under a new name. Szynka and Tobias Smorodin are the partners of the new outfit Szynka Smorodin. A third patent attorney will follow them to the new firm.

Szynka and Smorodin worked together in their own law firm in the early 2000s before they joined forces with the Düsseldorf firm König in 2002. The two have a clear focus on advising patents in classic technologies.

Szynka is frequently recommended for mechanics, process and mechanical engineering. In contrast, the Munich team is rarely active in the life sciences sector. According to the firm, it will primarily serve direct clients from central Europe.

In addition to Geberit and Hauff Technik, Szynka and Smorodin boast German DAX 30 companies among their clients, such as Infineon and MTU. Like their former Düsseldorf colleagues, they are also intensively involved in litigation.