Osborne Clarke hires Brinkhof litigator Jan Pot for Amsterdam

Jan Pot began his legal career in 2013 as an attorney at Brinkhof, one of the leading Dutch patent litigation firms. He became a partner there in January 2021.

Since 2019, Pot has been admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, making him one of only a small number of Dutch cassation lawyers specialising in IP and technology matters. He is also registered as a UPC representative and, from September 2022 until his departure from Brinkhof, acted under the joint brand Vossius & Brinkhof UPC Litigators. In recent years, however, Pot has steered his practice more towards general litigation. Unlike many of his former colleagues at Brinkhof, he does not focus exclusively on IP disputes. He continues to follow this approach at Osborne Clark.

Jan Pot

Pot’s practice spans patent litigation, with a particular focus on pharmaceuticals and telecoms, as well as class actions under the Dutch WAMCA regime, cartel damages claims, follow-on litigation and privacy and competition disputes. As a recommended litigator at Brinkhof, Pot successfully led the Supreme Court case for Cooler Master against Asetek, for example, in which the court dismissed Asetek’s appeal over computer cooling systems. Pot also represented Tata Steel alongside partner Rien Broekstra in the EPO opposition against a ArcelorMittal patent.

Bench strength for European patent team

At Osborne Clarke, Pot joins partners Paul Brouwer and Jeroen Bedaux in the Amsterdam dispute resolution practice. Pot says: “Class actions and follow-on claims are increasingly shaped at the European level. These cases are complex and go to the heart of our clients’ business. Osborne Clarke offers clients an international platform with broad expertise in key EU jurisdictions to deliver exactly that.”

The firm points to the addition as further reinforcement of its European patent litigation offering, which it has been building across key European jurisdictions. Osborne Clark’s pan-European patent team is currently based in London. There, the patent team led by Arty Rajendra and Will James plays a prominent role in SEP cases and in relation to pharmaceutical patents. In Belgium, Germany, and France, the firm operates with only small teams in the IP sector.

No gap at Brinkhof

At Brinkhof, Pot was regarded as one of the younger generation of litigators alongside Rien Broekstra and Alexander de Leeuw.

Brinkhof bundles its UPC activities with German patent attorney firm Vossius & Partner under the joint brand Vossius & Brinkhof UPC Litigators. Through this cooperation, Brinkhof lawyers have been involved in a number of UPC cases, including proceedings for Arbutus und Genevant against Moderna, BioNTech, and Pfizer.

The firm remains strongly positioned in national Dutch patent litigation, particularly in the life sciences sector, with partners such as Koen Bijvank, Daan de Lange, Mark Van Gardingen and others acting for generic drug and biosimilar manufacturers as well as innovators such as The Broad Institute, Amgen and Novartis. (Co-author: Laura King)