Kather Augenstein loses prominent patent litigator

Patent litigator Christopher Weber (48) is founding a new litigation firm next week. His new outfit will operate under the name patlit.xyz and is also based in Düsseldorf. Another experienced patent litigator will join the team at the start, but is not yet known to JUVE Patent.

The new firm is organisationally structured as a partnership according to the classic eat-what-you-kill principle. In addition, however, the firm has a new approach: in line with the motto “leverage technology, not people or hours”, it has completely dispensed with associates and support staff. Clients will be advised directly by an experienced lawyer, who will efficiently handle all other tasks using self-programmed tools with AI support. This should make the service more efficient and cost-effective for clients.

A new idea

Weber does not see his new outfit as a challenge to previous law firm models, but as an idea for a new structure that he wants to build from scratch: “At Kather Augenstein, I spent ten years helping to build a classic success model — tier 3 to tier 1, seven lawyers to seventeen. Patlit is deliberately not another step on this path, but a different model: senior counsel, technology as leverage, no junior hours.”

This is based on the assumption that technology-savvy clients in particular will in future expect their law firms to perform many tasks with technical support and will only rarely pay for the work of junior lawyers. According to this assumption, clients will need their lawyers to provide strategic advice in addition to representing them in court.

Prominent in mobile communications

Weber began his career in Christian Harmsen’s team at Bird & Bird in Düsseldorf. After nine years, he then moved from this major international law firm to the compact Düsseldorf litigation boutique Kather Augenstein. Kather Augenstein had split off from Preu Bohlig shortly before, also in preparation for the UPC.

The law firm has made a strong start in this business and has made a name for itself in major mobile communications disputes, for example representing Panasonic against Oppo and Xiaomi, and representing Ericsson against Lenovo. The team is also currently acting for FujiFilm in a dispute with Kodak.

Weber has established himself as one of the leading litigators, particularly for the mobile phone and automotive industry, in part through his representation in the extensive connected cars battles. Following Weber’s departure, the team comprises 16 lawyers, including three partners.