Ones to Watch Germany 2024: Moritz Schroeder

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 Moritz Schroeder, counsel at Bird & Bird, as one of six ‘Ones to Watch’ in the German patent market for 2024.

Moritz Schroeder certainly knows how to put himself in the limelight. Not just with his appearance – with his neat bow tie, pocket square and trendy moustache – but also in the courtroom. Such as for his client NanoString in its now famous UPC battle against 10X Genomics over diagnostic devices. After all, the 41-year-old is already a seasoned patent litigator with eight years of experience under his belt. In the appeal hearing at the UPC Court of Appeal on 18 December 2023, he argued on how the fact that both companies were negotiating a licence agreement affects the proportionality of an PI.

For NanoString, this day was about nothing less than preventing the Europe-wide preliminary injunction that the local division in Munich had previously handed down. Not only did the dispute bring NanoString to the brink of insolvency – the hearing was also the first at the UPC Court of Appeal. The public attention was great, as was the pressure on the Bird & Bird team around lead counsel Oliver Jüngst and Moritz Schroeder.

There from the very beginning

But Moritz Schroeder seized the moment and argued calmly and clearly, as if it were the most natural thing in the world for a young patent litigator to appear on the first day of proceedings at Europe’s new highest patent court. How the appeal ended is well known: the UPC Court of Appeal overturned the PI and paved the way for NanoString to return to the European market. A huge success, both legally and economically. But NanoString and 10x Genomics continue to fight before the UPC, German courts and the EPO to this day. This case is probably the most important one for Moritz Schroeder, as it marks his breakthrough alongside his mentor Oliver Jüngst.

The two men were fortunate to take part in a series of historic UPC hearings. Schroeder and Jüngst were also part of the action when the Düsseldorf local division heard its first case involving a PI claim by Ortovox against Mammut over a new avalanche rescue device. Here, Schroeder argued several points, such as the legal standard for an injunction, the lack of inventive step in Ortovox’s patent-in-suit, and the issues of costs and delay under the UPC standard. But this time things didn’t go as well for his client. The local division banned the sale of Mammut devices in Germany and Austria. In September, the Court of Appeal upheld the ruling.

Hardly any other team gained as much experience in its first few days of operation of the UPC as the duo of Jüngst and Schroeder, especially as they also teamed up with Dutch Bird & Bird lawyers in one of the first ever pharma cases befor the UPC. In August 2024, the local division Düsseldorf decided on behalf of Bird & Bird’s client Celltrion. For the time being, the drug manufacturer will not face a PI against its biosimilar of Novartis’ asthma drug Xolair.

Detour via gambling law

Moritz Schroeder has been working with Oliver Jüngst since 2016. Teva, Sandoz, Hexal and the New Zealand manufacturer of respiratory masks Fisher & Paykel are other high-profile clients that Schroeder has represented, primarily before the German patent courts.

However, his early days as a lawyer saw him work at a small law firm in the Ruhr Valley in the field of gambling law, where he gained his first experience in the courtroom. This was followed by a doctorate in IP law and, in 2016, a move to Bird & Bird.

Long before he became a lawyer, the illegal use of IP rights affected Moritz Schroeder’s own family home. His mother works as a fashion designer and his father builds houses. Schroeder reports that both had to fight against their ideas being stolen by others time and again. This is why instructions involving the protection of secrets are another of his specialities. Overall, however, most of his work is in pharmaceuticals and medical products litigation. Mobile communications patents do not feature in his work at all, and it seems that Moritz Schroeder is doing quite well with this specialisation.