Taylor Wessing Munich loses large portion of its patent litigation partners

Taylor Wessing got off to an extremely good start at the UPC with its networked approach of European practices. Most recently, the large firm impressed with partner hires in Amsterdam and its establishing a team in Paris. All signs in Taylor Wessing’s European patent practice were pointing to expansion.

With a large number of UPC clients behind it, the law firm was pushing to the top of the European patent market, competing with firms such as Hogan Lovells and Bird & Bird — firms that have had a stronger position in individual European national markets.

Taylor Wessing’s German team had also grown strongly in recent years with home-grown talent such as Anja Lunze and Jan Phillip Rektorschek. Its involvement in a large number of UPC cases only granted it greater visibility.

Now, five equity partners in the Munich office and some of their team are choosing a different path. They will leave Taylor Wessing in the autumn. Christian Lederer, Dietrich Kamlah, Anja Lunze, Thomas Pattloch, and Jan Phillip Rektorschek have founded the law firm Pentarc. At least five other lawyers will reportedly follow them.

It is not yet clear when the new IP boutique in Munich will officially launch. Exit negotiations are still ongoing, as both sides confirmed, but it should not take long.

A question of clients

The discussion between Taylor Wessing and the departing partners is likely to focus on clients. All five partners are involved in pan-European cases as well as litigation for regular clients of Taylor Wessing’s life sciences practice. They play a large part in the Munich patent team’s high reputation.

At the UPC, where the firm’s European patent practice is highly successful with a plethora of clients, the departing partners also handle a significant share of the cases. Christian Lederer and Dietrich Kamlah, for example, were part of the team for Abbott in the dispute with Dexcom concerning glucose-monitoring devices. However, the client relationship at Taylor Wessing has many anchors, as the current dispute with Sinocare and Menarini shows. The London partners in particular have a close relationship with the US medical device manufacturer.

The departing partners are also responsible for some of Taylor Wessing’s new UPC cases. Lederer, for example, is defending Samsung against several lawsuits filed by Maxell. Meanwhile, Kamlah is currently in the lead for Disney in a major series of lawsuits brought by InterDigital concerning streaming technology. Additionally, Lunze is representing Zentiva against Sanofi at the UPC, while Rektorschek is defending Oppo against claims brought by Asus and Innovative Sonic.

Rektorschek and Pattloch also helped defend Verifone against Nokia as co-counsel with Hoyng ROKH Monegier and Wuesthoff & Wuesthoff. The two parties have now settled.

National involvement

On a national level, Rektorschek is currently acting for Stadapharm concerning Bayer’s blockbuster drug Xarelto. With the participation of partners from London and Vienna, Rektorschek is also representing  Wonderland against Cybex concerning strollers. Pattloch focuses less on patent litigation than the other partners, pursuing instead a broad IP advisory approach and maintaining good contacts to Chinese clients.

Thomas Pattloch

Ericsson and Pfizer are two examples of international companies that Taylor Wessing represents in national proceedings and at the UPC. However, the client relationships with these two clients are mainly maintained by the Dutch or UK partners.

Looking to grow

The spin-off of Pentarc significantly reduces the size of Taylor Wessing’s patent litigation team in Munich, which now centres on the experienced Gisbert Hohagen. The team works closely with the firm’s strong life sciences group, with IP partners such as Daniel Tietjen and of counsel Christoph de Coster in patent law. In addition, the team also handles many disputes in other technologies, such as for Exertis against Huawei regarding wi-fi 6 technology.

Taylor Wessing is also well positioned with its five-strong Düsseldorf team led by Roland Küppers and its teams in Benelux and Vienna. Furthermore, it recently closed the gap in its European line-up in Paris by bringing in Jules Fabre as a partner with his Pinsent Masons team. This coup enabled the firm to catch up with competitors such as Hogan Lovells and Bird & Bird, which already have long-established teams in this national market.

Additionally, the Dutch practice recently announced it would strengthen its ranks with a large team around Bas Berghuis van Woortman and Sebastien Versaevel along with three lawyers from Simmons & Simmons.

Oliver Bertram, Taylor Wessing’s managing Partner in Germany, says, “Anja Lunze, Dieter Kamlah, Christian Lederer, Thomas Pattloch and Jan Phillip Rektorschek have contributed to the development and success of our practice group over many years. Our sincere thanks go to them.”

He adds, “Taylor Wessing continues to have one of the largest patent law practices in Europe. Our positioning in the market is excellent, not least thanks to our strong UPC focus. We are therefore an extremely attractive address for patent law teams nationwide, so we are already in talks to return to our previous team strength in Germany in the short term.”

Record-breaking spin-off

This makes Pentarc one of the largest spin-offs in the German legal market since the turn of the millennium. The German IP market experienced its first major spin-off in 2004 when Thomas Reimann, Christian Osterrieth and Klaus Haft left Clifford Chance, followed by other lawyers. They laid the foundation for the German practice of today’s European IP boutique Hoyng ROKH Monegier.

Arnold Ruess is also a spin-off and has just celebrated its 15th anniversary. The three founding partners were all associates at Freshfields when they decided to go independent.

Another milestone was the spin-off of the Düsseldorf office of Preu Bohlig & Partner. In 2015, ten litigators founded Kather Augenstein. Nine years later, another patent team left Preu Bohlig & Partner when eleven lawyers from Hamburg, Munich and Paris founded Bonabry.

The large number of equity partners who have decided to form Pentarc is particularly impressive. The firm will move into the Herzog-Max-Areal on Munich’s Karlsplatz, according to a press release from the property developer. It also plans to open an office in Hamburg. (Co-author: Christina Schulze)