Siemens named as IP In-house Team of the Year at JUVE Awards
On 26 October, JUVE presented its annual awards for German law firm and in-house teams across 18 different categories at the Frankfurt Opera House. The 2023 winner of IP In-house Team of the Year went to Siemens for its thorough approach to enforcing its IP rights, as well as the patent team's work to raise the quality of granted European patents.
30 October 2023 by Amy Sandys
JUVE has awarded German conglomerate Siemens the accolade of In-house Team of the Year at its annual ceremony, which takes place every year in Frankfurt. The other four nominees were Birkenstock, Deutsche Telekom, Huawei and Hartmann.
The judges chose Siemens as the award recipient based on the company setting itself the highest of standards with regard to the quality of its own intellectual property rights. Accordingly, it reorganised its own patent department. Under the leadership of Beat Weibel, head of the IP department, Siemens is also playing a leading role in the public debate on improving the quality of European patents.
Push for change
Thus, a corresponding initiative received the support of many patent owners. Last year, Weibel forcefully placed this before the European Patent Office management. The resulting Industry Patent Quality Charter signatories jointly commit to a set of quality standards independent to the measures set out by the EPO.
Michael Gollwitzer of Siemens with Gunnar Baumgärtel of Maikowski & Ninnemann at the JUVE Awards 2023.
Speaking to JUVE Patent at the time, Weibel said, “All the [current] measures are too focused on the improvement of internal processes and their effectiveness, including speed and timeliness. This does not necessarily enhance the actual quality of the granted patents. Both the users and the public need good quality patents. And for them this means solid, reliable and enforceable patents that create a value to the company.”
Siemens invests in quality
JUVE Patent journalist Konstanze Richter further elaborates on the reasoning behind Siemens’ win during the award ceremony. She says, “Quality over quantity – that’s the Siemens motto. As one of the largest patent applicants at the European Patent Office, the company has been investing in the examination of its own property rights for years.
The IP department thus ensures that, as the technology grows in complexity, the rights remain high quality and can be enforced in court. Furthermore, with the Industry Patent Quality Charter, founded in 2022, Siemens is convincing more and more companies of the importance of patents.
Together, they are demanding better quality from the EPO when it comes to granting patents. Siemens’ IP chief Beat Weibel has great support for this in the market.” Watch her present the decision in full in the video below.
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Winning criteria
JUVE’s IP In-house award has existed since 2018. Based on its year-round research, the editorial team selects a winner from five nominees doing outstanding work and forging demonstrable dynamic growth. The JUVE Awards also considers teams in soft IP and the patent field.
In related categories, JUVE presented the German team of international firm Taylor Wessing with the IP Firm of the Year award. The judges praised Taylor Wessing for its patent lawyers’ cross-border work for key clients such as Oppo, Pfizer and Abbott, with its trademark lawyers also heavily involved for the firm’s pharmaceutical client list. Taylor Wessing is also successfully integrating younger partners and thus new concepts, such as the metaverse, into its structure.
In 2022, the winner of JUVE In-house IP Team of the Year was COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer BioNTech, for its impressive growth strategy. International IP firm Hogan Lovells scooped the prize for IP Law Firm of the Year 2022.
The JUVE Awards ceremony took place on 26 October 2023, with JUVE Patent publishing its annual German ranking the following day. To keep up-to-date with any of the awards developments, follow the hashtags #JUVEAwards and #JUVEAwards2023 or follow JUVE Patent on LinkedIn.
