Reddie & Grose bolsters Munich office with Maiwald partner

Simon Lud (44) joined Reddie & Grose at the beginning of February. The physicist had worked at Maiwald for ten years, previously also working for Isarpatent and Bardehle Pagenberg from 2009 to 2013.

Reddie & Grose boosts electronics

During the last five years at Maiwald, Lud has been a salary partner. He also joins Reddie & Grose as salary partner.

Simon Lud

As a German and European patent attorney, Lud is part of Reddie & Grose’s electrical, electronics and software practice. He focuses on the fields of semiconductors, electronics, telecommunications, automotive, software and artificial intelligence.

First German patent attorney

During his time at Maiwald, Lud advised a Chinese mobile phone manufacturer, whose patents he defended in EPO oppositions. In the mobile communications sector, Lud specialises in standard essential HEVC patents and video codec technologies.

Accordingly, Lud also specialises in disputes and will support his new firm in EPO oppositions and, in the future, UPC proceedings. Unified Patents, a US-based organisation which aims to reduce the number of SEPs owned by non-practising entities (NPEs), followed him as a client to Reddie & Grose.

Lud is also the first German patent attorney in the firm’s Munich office. Currently UK and European patent attorney Robin Ellis, who focuses on the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors, leads the office. After starting his career in the London office of Reddie & Grose, in 2006 Ellis moved to Munich to join Sandoz/Novartis. In 2019, he returned to Reddie & Grose to set up the firm’s Munich office and establish its presence in continental Europe.

The firm has offices in London and Cambridge, as well as in the two EPO locations of Munich and The Hague. Thus, the firm is present in two important UPC local divisions. However, Reddie & Grose’s website does not currently list any lawyers at the office in The Hague. Eight patent attorneys work in Munich, where Lud and Ellis are admitted as UPC representatives, but no lawyers. No Reddie & Grose lawyers are currently admitted to the UPC.

Expanding due to UPC

UK patent lawyers cannot conduct proceedings at the UPC, but UK patent attorneys admitted to the EPO and with a special additional qualification are authorised to represent clients. Therefore, UK patent attorney firms especially are pushing the expansion of their offices in continental Europe.

Kilburn & Strode, for example, is focusing primarily on its Dutch practice, whereas most other firms are focusing on expanding their existing Munich offices.

An example is Mathys & Squire, which opened in Munich with a team from Herzog Fiesser & Partner in 2019 as a result of Brexit. A year later, Mewburn Ellis and Boult Wade Tennant bolstered their German offices. In 2022, Forresters grew its Munich presence with a Hofstetter Schurack hire.