Ones to Watch Netherlands 2024: Emma Stok

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 Emma Stok, associate at Bird & Bird, as one of three ‘Ones to Watch’ in the Dutch patent market for 2024.

Emma Stok has worked as a patent litigator for three years now, but sometimes it only takes one case to achieve a breakthrough. For this 28-year-old lawyer, that breakthrough came at a very early stage in her career with a dispute over multiple sclerosis drug dimethylfumarate/Tecfidera.

Stok has been a lawyer at Bird & Bird since 2021 and has worked on several major cases. But the Tecfidera case was special. As part of a Bird & Bird team, she represented Neuraxpharm against Biogen. Biogen had sued Neuraxpharm as well as Viatris, Sandoz and Polpharma in the Netherlands for infringement of its EP 2 653 873. The generics manufacturers counterclaimed for invalidity of the patent.

Leaving a good impression

The Bird & Bird associate used the intensive phase leading up to the oral hearing to make an impression. “Emma is a very good and sharp-minded patent litigator,” says a Dutch lawyer.

“In this case, I felt like I was able to show what I was capable of very well,” says Stok. “I was involved in all its details — it felt like my own case.” Stok reports that it was also very pleasant to collaborate with the other generics manufacturers in coordinating their counterattack on the Biogen patent and that she was in constant dialogue with the Viatris and Sandoz lawyers from BarentsKrans and Brinkhof.

Like her peer Jarieke Timmerman from BarentsKrans, Emma Stok also used the Tecfidera case to come to the fore. Both lawyers are the same age and made it onto JUVE Patent Ones to Watch in the Netherlands 2024. The Dutch patent market is not known for having many female litigators — these two ambitious young lawyers may go some way towards changing this structural problem.

Emma Stok’s decision to study law came as a surprise as she had chosen to focus on natual sciences at school. She did not come into contact with IP law in the first few years of her studies. It was not until her Master’s degree that civil and IP law became more important.

Today, Stok says that patent litigation allows her to combine both of her interests. “The combination of technology and law is very exciting,” she says. However, she only found out about the profession of patent attorney after she had decided to study law.

A little more chemistry and biology

The Tecfidera case is only the second patent case that Stok has been involved in from start to finish in her young career. She was also involved in the dispute between Nokia and Oppo, which was fought worldwide until early 2024. Initially, Stok worked on many mobile communications cases, but life sciences cases have predominated over the past two years. And Stok says this is a good thing.

At some point, Stok would also like to see a patent case concerning food technology. The Dutch native is very interested in novel and pioneering food products, but of course also in the UPC. Bird & Bird already has quite a few UPC cases, but Stok hopes that the number of life sciences cases will increase even further. Stok says she can hardly wait for her first UPC case.

Read JUVE Patent’s analysis of Bird & Bird in the JUVE Patent Netherland ranking 2024

Update 9.10.2024: JUVE Patent updated this article on 8.10.24 due to an error. Upon publication the article erroneously stated that Neuraxpharm and Biogen had settled their dispute concerning fingolimod. This has now been corrected.