JUVE announces nominees for Patent Law Firm and In-house Patent Team of the Year

The nominees for this year’s JUVE Awards Germany are in. The shortlist for Patent Law Firm of the Year reflects a mix of established players and comparatively young boutiques that have emerged from recent spin-offs in the German patent market. Meanwhile, the nominees for In-house Team of the Year for Patent span a range of sectors, from life sciences and generics to telecommunications and access solutions.

The nominees for JUVE Law Firm of the Year for Patent are:

• Ampersand
• Bonabry
• Clifford Chance
• df-mp

The nominees for In-house Team of the Year for Patent are:

• Bayer Intellectual Property
• Dormakaba
• Nokia
• Sandoz

Focus on patent

JUVE presents two awards in the patent category on stage at the Frankfurt Opera House. Since 2025, the awards for this category have focused exclusively on the activities of law firms and companies in patent law, with soft IP work no longer factoring into the decision. The shift reflects the increasing importance of patent litigation in the advisory market and the greater dynamism among the firms and companies operating in the patent field.

The award for Patent Law Firm of the Year recognises a German law firm for its work over the past year. Firms are nominated for their performance and strategic development, primarily in patent litigation. This includes national patent litigation as well as EPO opposition and appeal proceedings. The dynamism of the practices is also taken into account, while UPC work plays only a secondary role. JUVE Patent presents a separate award for UPC work in December.

The In-house Team of the Year for Patent award recognises a European in-house team for its work and growth. Teams in both patent litigation and patent prosecution come under consideration.

Last year’s winners

At the 2025 ceremony, Düsseldorf-based patent litigation boutique Wildanger Kehrwald Graf von Schwerin & Partner took the trophy for German Patent Firm of the Year. The firm prevailed over fellow nominees CBH Rechtsanwälte, Clifford Chance and Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner. JUVE Patent recognised Wildanger for its solid position as a port-of-call for major national cases, as well as its increasing role in UPC representation and its involvement in cases such as the VoiceAge vs HMD litigation series. Other notable clients of the firm include Asus and Huawei.

BASF received the award for In-house Team of the Year for Patent, prevailing against Covestro, Huawei and Valeo. JUVE Patent recognised the chemicals group for merging its IP department with the chemicals division’s in-house team, consolidating IP matters with regulatory expertise under one roof. The department had also streamlined its holdings, and employs drafting software and AI in its work. Together with Taylor Wessing, the team contributed to the BDI’s (Federation of German Industries) key issues paper on Germany’s IP strategy, with several proposals reflected in the coalition agreement.

The JUVE Awards are presented annually in a black tie ceremony at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt. The 2026 awards ceremony will take place on 29 October, with awards presented in 18 categories across various practice areas.

This week, subscribers to JUVE Patent’s exclusive PaceMaker newsletter will receive further insight into the nomination process.