New IP firm Leca Sevestre founded in Paris

The two name partners Carlyne Sevestre (33) and Jean-Baptiste Leca (31) founded their IP boutique in Paris in September. Both bring years of experience from renowned French patent litigation practices.

The lawyers’ paths first crossed at an exciting time in the French IP market. They were both interns at Hoyng ROKH Monegier when the firm merged with Véron. Subsequently, their careers ran in parallel, albeit at different firms.

Now their new venture launches at another pivotal moment: the UPC is gaining traction as a litigation forum, including among the mid-sized companies Sevestre and Leca hope to attract. The founders position their firm as a young, nimble outfit.

For the past six years, Sevestre has been an associate at De Gaulle Fleurance. During this time, she worked on various patent cases, including Hoya’s nullity suit against Alcon over cataract surgery technology and Tyron Runflat’s defence against Hutchinson regarding automotive wheel technology.

Sevestre was also part of the team defending Nectra against Agri Advanced Technology in a dispute over technology for sorting chicken eggs. Furthermore, she represented B&F Baumaschinen & Factoring as plaintiff against Cofrasud in an infringement action concerning transport devices for fence elements.

Pharma, food and cosmetics experience

In the new firm, Sevestre aims to focus on advising companies in the energy sector, as well as on patents relating to green tech and IT. Leca plans to attract clients from the cosmetics, pharmaceutical, food and medical device industries.

Leca also brings an impressive track record. He represented F. Hoffmann-La Roche as defendant against Roche in an SPC invalidity action, and Genmab as defendant against Novartis Pharma in another SPC case.

Most recently, Leca spent one year at Casalonga and over three years at DTMV. During this time, he was part of the team representing Gilead against ViiV Healthcare over HIV drug Biktarvy and OSE Immunotherapeutics against Inserm in a patent ownership dispute. He also worked for clients in other technical fields, including Lidl and Xiaomi.