Ones to Watch France 2024: Anaïs Pallut

Every year, JUVE Patent carries out extensive research in the French patent market, culminating in the publication of the French patent rankings. Our latest research highlighted Anaïs Pallut, senior associate at August Debouzy in Paris, as one of three Ones to Watch in the French patent market for 2024. The individual Ones to Watch 2024 articles are published alphabetically by surname.

Like many born in the 1980s, Anaïs Pallut is a true European by conviction: a “real European thinker” describes her approach to work and life. Growing up in a generation for whom the progress of European integration went hand in hand with the 1990s spirit of optimism, early on two things were clear to the now 36-year-old Pallut: she wanted to become a lawyer, and she wanted to work in, or for, a European or international organisation.

But while the Paris native found a track to studying law, her path to a European field of work was initially less clear cut. Little could she have known that a career in IP would bring her full circle.

A fledgling idea

While Pallut was studying European law at the Sorbonne, she went to the General Court of the European Union for a six-month internship. There, the court assigned her a Slovenian judge who decided that, rather than a complex and protracted competition case, it would be better for Pallut to learn from a succinct trademark dispute. They could not have known this, but the supervising judge’s decision gave Pallut the push towards IP which ended up defining her career.

For Anaïs Pallut’s subsequent university thesis, she tackled a more comprehensive theoretical topic in the notion of a common European patent court. This brought her into direct and early contact with the Unified Patent Court. Then, just one year later, another internship at the French Patent Office (INPI) saw her become involved with the Unitary Patent Regulation.

The following year, during an EPO internship, Pallut contributed her experience in European law and IP through lobbying at the European Commission. Here, her work involved contributing to discussions on the UPC Agreement.

More than just hard work

The concept of a European approach to law had not yet come to fruition, however, when Anaïs Pallut gained her first practical experience in patent litigation. This happened even before the Paris Bar admitted her in 2014. During an internship at Allen & Overy, she saw how exciting patent disputes could be – a stand-out example was her experience of the case between Apple and Samsung.

At the same time, this stint also taught her a different kind of lesson. Pallut expected that, following her admission to the Bar, her hard work during the internship would lead directly to an associate position at Allen & Overy. But this did not work out as anticipated. Following a change of plan, she joined Christophe Chapoullié’s soft IP team at full-service firm hw&h, before moving to mixed IP firm Loyer & Abello.

After moving to Hoyng ROKH Monegier, founding partner Denis Monégier du Sorbier became her mentor. Over the subsequent six-and-a-half years at the leading IP boutique, she became familiar with the firm’s intense teamwork in pan-European patent litigation. As an associate, she was deeply involved in the dispute over veterinary medication for Ceva Santé Animale against Bayer.

Clearly, the case was ideal preparation for the UPC. Nevertheless, shortly after the court launched on 1 June 2023, Pallut decided to move again to another market leader.

A real European thinker

As such, Anaïs Pallut has worked for several months in August Debouzy’s patent litigation team. With this move, she wants to deepen her cooperation with other practice groups, especially in competition law. Since joining a few months prior, Pallut has acted for French electrical specialties company Mersen group in two saisie-contrefaçon. She also joined the first-instance litigation against Fresenius for Japanese medical device company Nipro, as well as carrying out extensive work for Michelin.

During her time at Hoyng ROKH Monegier, Anaïs Pallut mainly gained experience in pharmaceutical proceedings. However, potential conflicts with the August Debouzy client base mean she is not currently involved in any of these previous cases.

Although now working at a national full-service law firm, Pallut’s patent litigation team is one of the French teams with the most international patent cases. It also has many UPC cases. As a patent lawyer, Pallut has thus succeeded in entering an international working environment with a strong European focus. After all, this was her goal all along.

Read JUVE Patent’s analysis of August Debouzy in the JUVE Patent France ranking 2024