Ones to Watch Netherlands 2024: Carlos van Staveren
In JUVE Patent's recent Dutch ranking, three patent litigators stood out among the up-and-coming lawyers in the market. Here, Mathieu Klos explains how Carlos van Staveren made his way from De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek to Bird & Bird, where UPC cases have accelerated his career.
4 October 2024 by Mathieu Klos
Every year, JUVE Patent carries out extensive research in the Dutch patent market, culminating in the publication of the Dutch patent rankings. Our latest research highlighted Carlos van Staveren, counsel at Bird & Bird, as one of three ‘Ones to Watch’ in the Dutch patent market for 2024.
Carlos van Staveren probably never dreamed of such a career development. Just over a year ago, the 40-year-old lawyer moved from De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek to Bird & Bird. What followed was an eventful year for the newly appointed counsel. The move in May 2023 brought with it a new status for van Staveren, but also a fundamental change in his work as a lawyer.
Van Staveren has been a lawyer since 2015. At De Brauw, his work included high-stakes proceedings before the Dutch Supreme Court. Alongside De Brauw partner Tobias Cohen Jehoram, for example, he was successful for Eli Lilly against Fresenius over pemetrexed before the highest court in the Netherlands. Another significant case goes back to his early years as a lawyer when, in 2017, he advised MSD together with Jehoram in a supreme court case against Teva concerning a drug for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C.
Today, his clients include KPN and Celltrion. Van Staeveren represents these together with other Bird & Bird lawyers at the Unified Patent Court. Recently, for example, he teamed up with the firm’s Dutch and German lawyers to defend Celltrion’s biosimilar of Novartis’ asthma drug Xolair.
Eventful September
At the end of July 2024, Düsseldorf local division held a PI hearing concerning imminent infringement. Claimants Novartis and Genentech had challenged defendant Celltrion over the formulation patent EP 3 805 248. The patent is in force in all UPC contracting member states except for Malta. But at the beginning of September, Düsseldorf local division dismissed the PI application by Novartis and Genentech, ruling there is no imminent threat of infringement.
The next bombshell followed shortly afterwards. A Bird & Bird team led by Amsterdam-based partners Peter van Gemert and Tjibbe Douma, as well as van Staveren launched the first SEP case at the local division The Hague on behalf of KPN. Van Staveren has a long relationship with the Dutch telecommunications giant.
Made for the UPC
Van Staveren belongs to the young generation of Dutch lawyers who are taking the UPC as an opportunity to increase their presence in the market. This also includes his two colleagues Tjibbe Douma and Peter van Gemert.
Van Staveren is involved in most of the UPC cases on which the Dutch Bird & Bird team is working on. This includes Maxeon Solar’s lawsuit against Chinese competitor Aiko regarding solar panel technology at the local division Düsseldorf. Here, the counsel is working with the firm’s German and Dutch lawyers. Then, as part of a Bird & Bird team consisting of Dutch, Italian and Scandinavian lawyers, he is representing Dexcom in the major battle with competitor Abbott over glucose-monitoring devices at the local division The Hague and the Nordic-Baltic Regional division in Stockholm.
These are exciting times for young litigators like him, says van Staveren, adding, “In our cases, we now have the opportunity to help shape UPC case law. Not every lawyer generation has this opportunity.”
Read JUVE Patent’s analysis of Bird & Bird in the JUVE Patent Netherland ranking 2024
