Ones to Watch Germany 2024: Corin Gittinger

Every year, JUVE Patent carries out extensive research in the German patent market, culminating in the publication of the German patent rankings. Our latest research highlighted Corin Gittinger, principal associate at Freshfields, as one of six ‘Ones to Watch’ in the German patent market for 2024.

Düsseldorf instead of Berlin: this prospect seemed rather uninviting to Corin Gittinger when he started his legal career. In spring 2017, the newly qualified lawyer needed some convincing from Frank-Erich Hufnagel and Wolrad Prinz zu Waldeck to move from the Spree to Freshfields’ patent team on the Rhine.

At the time, Gittinger had little experience in patent litigation. His father being an in-house patent attorney played little role in the lawyer’s choice of career. Gittinger’s studies, his legal clerkship at Raue and his work as a research assistant at Noerr focused on soft IP.

How the two Freshfields partners managed to convince the young professional in the end remains a secret. Gittinger has not regretted choosing patent law, but he didn’t stay in Düsseldorf for long, packing his bags and moving back to Berlin after just three years. Spearheading the patent practice, the now 37-year-old Principal Associate has built up a small IP team of four professionals in Freshfields’ office in the German capital.

Penchant for automotive and SEPs

Gittinger’s work for Freshfields has given him broad experience in patent litigation, where he specialises in advice on SEPs, often on the interface between patents and unfair competition. He is especially interested in the automotive sector, as he completed the elective stage of his legal clerkship in the in-house department at Daimler. So it comes as little surprise that he was part of the team representing Continental in the connected car disputes against Nokia from the very beginning.

The young lawyer gained further experience in SEP litigation in the work for Lenovo against InterDigital and Ericsson against Unwired Planet. He was also part of the Freshfield team that advised Xiaomi in the high-profile series of UPC proceedings against Panasonic, until recently, when the parties agreed to a settlement. He is now representing Lenovo at the UPC against Headwater.

His intensive client work does not go unnoticed in the market. Competitors praise him as “very strong in complex legal problems,” and one client finds him “simply great.”