JUVE reveals nominees in patent for JUVE Awards Germany 2025

Today JUVE announced the shortlist for this year’s JUVE Awards Germany, including the JUVE Law Firm of the Year for Patent, and In-house Team of the Year for Patent. The JUVE Awards cover Germany only and there are four nominees in each category.

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

• CBH Rechtsanwälte
• Clifford Chance
• Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner
• Wildanger Kehrwald Graf v. Schwerin & Partner

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

• BASF
• Covestro
• Huawei
• Valeo

Same, same but different

After many years, JUVE has decided to reduce the number of nominees from five to four per category. In times of ever-increasing award ceremonies and honours in ever more categories, we are now deliberately focusing on the depth and quality of our research. You can find more information (in German) here.

JUVE will present two awards in the patent category on stage at the Frankfurt Opera House. In previous years these awards have been given in the broader category of IP, but from now on the two awards will focus exclusively on the activities of law firms and companies in patent law. Their work in soft IP will no longer play a role. This reflects the increasing importance of patent litigation in this advisory segment and the significantly higher dynamism of the companies and law firms operating in this field.

Alte Oper Frankfurt

JUVE will present an award for JUVE Law Firm of the Year for Patent to one particular German law firm in recognition of its eminent work over the past year. Firms receive nominations for their strong performance and strategic development mainly in patent litigation. This includes national patent litigation as well as EPO oppositions and appeals cases. The dynamism in the patent practices is also taken into account. UPC litigation only plays a secondary role here. 

Similarly, the award for In-house Team of the Year for Patent recognises a German in-house team for its exceptional work and dynamic growth. Teams in both patent litigation and patent prosecution come under the judges’ consideration.

With regards to UPC work, JUVE Patent published a UPC ranking for the first time in December 2024 and presented Powell Gilbert with the UPC Firm of the Year 2025 award. JUVE Patent will continue to research both the UPC ranking and the UPC Firm of the Year award every year. The UPC Award is not part of the German JUVE Awards ceremony in Frankfurt.

2024 winners

In 2024, the JUVE Law Firm of the Year for Patent was Cohausz & Florack. This award was not previously part of the JUVE Awards ceremony, rather the winner was selected as part of the patent ranking Germany. Cohausz & Florack was praised for its high-quality advice across all fields and its work in high-profile cases such as Bayer’s Xarelto dispute and Nokia’s UPC case. The firm also continuously promotes young talent.

Last year’s JUVE IP Law Firm of the Year went to Bird & Bird. Judges singled out the firm for its extensive litigation for clients such as Edwards Lifesciences, NanoString and Celltrion, as well as trademark work in green claims. They also acknowledged the firm’s consistent promotion of younger talent. From 2025 there will no longer be an award for IP.

The award for In-house IP Team of the Year 2024 went to Thyssenkrupp for its practical approach in the application and patenting of AI. The company implements an astute strategy for protecting its own innovations in the application of artificial intelligence under patent law to future-proof the work of its own developers.

Follow on social media

This year, the awards ceremony will take place on 30 October 2025. Awards will be presented in 18 categories across various practice areas. Readers can follow the event live on social media and keep up-to-date with any developments by following the hashtags #JUVEAwards and #JUVEAwards2025