HOYNG ROKH MONEGIER

Bronze - Firms

Gold - Firms: litigation

Home to one of France’s leading patent litigation teams, Hoyng Rokh Monegier seeks to capitalise on its leading position to become a litigation firm of choice at the UPC. Clientele and peers are unequivocal in declaring the group’s attorneys among “the foremost patent litigators in France today, with an excellent knowledge of the UPC system too. Sabine Agé, Florence Jacquand, Caroline Levesque and Amandine Métier are an excellent team. All four are extremely experienced in all aspects of patent litigation. Working with them is very reassuring. In particular, they are very comfortable handling multi-jurisdictional patent litigation. They are convincing to the magistrates during oral hearings, which is a considerable asset for the clients. They are surrounded by a large and competent team of associates, which ensures that their work is not only of very high quality, but also that it is done quickly. They are all excellent lawyers – Sabine is a master strategist in patent litigation; she is always one step ahead of her adversaries. She is enormously experienced and one of the top patent litigators in Europe. Florence, Caroline and Amandine are well positioned to succeed her, and Marta Mendes is another excellent addition to this very seamless and well-oiled team. Marta provides very skilful and efficient advice in litigation proceedings. She kept to a strict timeline and secured a win in her clients’ favour. Amandine is a brilliant up-and-comer with excellent advocacy skills. She is forceful, persuasive and a great strategist. Caroline is simply excellent in patent law. She works really well with her clients and always seeks to understand their business concerns. She builds a strategy alongside the patron, whether plaintiff or defendant, in order to protect their interests. Everything the firm does is accomplished with seriousness and expertise. For major pharmaceutical litigation, Benoît Strowel is excellent. Benoît is a fearless litigator, ready to take on cases which look unwinnable and then turn them around. Benoît and Marta collaborate well and are pleasant to work with. Both are efficient, and their skills and professionalism have been on a very high level. The whole firm invariably does a good job. They are well prepared and deliver very good speeches. They have a strong understanding of SEPs, are good communicators and have an easy command of English.” The other leading practitioners are firm namesake and legendary litigator Denis Monégier du Sorbier and the 20 years’ experienced Sophie Micallef. Micallef’s IP practice is comprehensive and takes in employee’s inventions, unfair competition and false advertising suits, alongside infringement proceedings. Micallef is smart and detail oriented; one recent matter sees her and Monégier support Bouygues Telecom in an SEP infringement action brought by Intellectual Ventures. Monégier has considerable experience in IP litigation and is known across the country for his strong procedural skills and tenacity as a litigator. 

Gold - Firms: litigation and transactions

“HOYNG ROKH MONEGIER is an excellent firm with wide-ranging patent capabilities. Its team is well resourced, with high-quality attorneys who deliver a top work product and provide great value for money.” Managing partner Liesbeth Weynants earns praise for being “a tenacious litigator at the top of her game. She is a standout patent practitioner who excels in the life sciences arena, is full of grit and is fun to work alongside.” She has recently linked up with the “brilliant Steven Cattoor, who is hands-on, on top of the details and shines in the courtroom”, to defend Apple against claims of patent infringement brought by Ericsson regarding four alleged standard essential patents relating to 4G and 5G technology and one implementation patent. Appreciated for his ability to handle significant cross-border disputes with exceptional dexterity, Benoît Strowel defends his clients’ interests with a determination that is tough to rival. The trio continue their representation of Ceva Santé Animale against claims of patent infringement brought by Bayer, in what is set to be the largest veterinary products patent case.

Gold - Firms: litigation and transactions

Silver - Firms: prosecution

With a strong IP team throughout Europe, HOYNG ROKH MONEGIER has is best recognised for its litigation talents; it also provides a 360-degree service and expertly handles non-contentious assignments. In the Netherlands, the team is regarded as “an excellent and safe pair of hands who provide great value for money” and they are never short of high-stakes work. Recently, Bart van den Broek, Willem Hoyng, Frank Eijsvogels and David Owen have been supporting Philips with its large portfolio of essential and non-essential telecommunication patents in the field of UMTS and LTE. Third-party licences were available from Philips; however, several businesses used the patented technology without obtaining a licence and, as a result, various proceedings against a number of companies – including Xiaomi, Wiko and ASUS – were initiated across the Netherlands, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Eijsvogels and Owen also linked up with Theo Blomme on a patent infringement case in the field of solar cell technology for Hanwha Q CELLS. A cross-border injunction for more than 10 European countries was confirmed and infringement proceedings are pending in Germany, France, Australia and the United States. Blomme frequently collaborates with Hoyng, and they recently teamed up with Jeroen den Hartog to assist AstraZeneca in a case against a health insurer who claimed the pharmaceutical company reimbursed the more expensive version of a drug used to treat bipolar disorder and schizophrenia instead of the cheaper generic drug. The team won on appeal and have continued representing them in many high-profile patent infringement matters. In a case involving indirect infringement, Peter van Schijndel and Simon Dack lent their talents to Corbin Clinical Resources. Leapmed, a Chinese company, and its US partner Advance Medical Devices, were promoting a device that had been modified to use Corbin’s invention. “Peter excels in patent matters and also works at the forefront of cutting-edge issues”, while “Simon is excellent and very much a thought leader in the field”. Completing the line-up, Wilbert Derks has been handling the worldwide prosecution for Allnex Resins BV, the global leader in coating resins, and Michiel de Baat tackles agribusiness Simplot’s opposition work before the European Patent Office (EPO).

Gold - Firms: litigation

“The lawyers at HOYNG ROKH MONEGIER are conscientious and responsive – they are the go-to IP practitioners in Spain.” Bringing unparalleled strength when it comes to cross-border contentious capabilities, the international boutique is a dominant force across Europe. Its outposts in France, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands are solid gold and work together seamlessly to handle complex, multi-jurisdictional disputes with finesse. Luis Fernández-Novoa, Álvaro Velázquez and IAM Patent 1000 newcomer Laura Cantero are seasoned advocates with superb track records in complex, cross-border litigations. The trio earn rave reviews from the market: “Luis, Álvaro and Laura are highly professional attorneys. They are extremely attentive to detail and highly skilled when it comes to understanding the technical details of the case, which in some cases are rather complex issues spanning many technical fields.” Fernández-Novoa and Velázquez garner further praise for their “pragmatic and hard-working attitude. They persevere and do what is necessary to win the case, and often achieve more favourable results than predicted. Luis and Álvaro know how to hit the right spot with the judges”. Valued contact for a host of international players, José Antonio Sanmartín represents his customers with precision and uses his deep patent know-how to make the best strategic calls. He regularly advises EPSON – one of the world's leading manufacturers of computer printers – in relation to its IP matters in Spain.

Recommended - Firms: transactions

Gold - Firms: infringement

With three offices across Germany alongside locations in Amsterdam, Brussels, Madrid, Paris and Lyons, Hoyng Rokh Monegier has its sights set firmly on the UPC. Boasting more than 100 dedicated IP specialists, the outfit presents one of Europe’s largest patent litigation teams at one of the continent’s biggest boutiques. For both contentious and non-contentious matters the legal patent team in Germany comes out at the very top of the stack. Attorney at law Klaus Haft is one of the country’s foremost litigators in the high-tech space. With a physics background, Haft gets up to speed on matters quickly, giving him more time to prepare skilful strategic interventions. Recent high-profile matters include defending Apple against Ericsson concerning 5G patents; representing medical device company Elekta in a global patent infringement dispute against multiple opponents, including ZAP; and acting for Motorola in the German part of an international enforcement effort related to wireless technology. The strategic and articulate Christine Kanz is held in universally high esteem among her peers in the patent profession. A particularly accomplished disputer when it comes to the world of high-stakes pharmaceutical litigation, Kanz is well versed in the ins and outs of IP disputes across sectors and practice areas, from mechanical engineering patents to trademark law. She has recently been occupied fighting patent infringement disputes for life sciences giant Gilead, involving two blockbuster products. She also supports Christian Osterrieth in the representation of Vorwerk, a household appliance distributor, in patent infringement litigation regarding the Monsieur Cuisine cooking device. A parallel nullity proceeding is still awaiting judgment. Osterrieth brings nearly 40 years’ experience to his contentious and non-contentious patent practice. A licensing expert, Osterrieth’s enforcement nous ensures that his transactional work is always performed with an eye to potential litigation. Kay Kasper also has a mixed practice. A superb negotiator, Kasper is best known for his skill in handling SEP-related disputes, especially in the automotive space. On this front, he delivers ongoing advice to BMW on various patent matters and in competition law, particularly in negotiations with the licensing platform Avanci and other companies. He was also part of the team that successfully represented Deutsche Telekom in an SEP/FRAND matter against Intellectual Ventures. The 25-years-experienced Martin Köhler is a skilled disputer who brings litigation abilities to bear in a wide range of sectors. Recently he has dispensed patent advice to the firm’s long-time client Dr. Kurt Wolff/Dr August Wolff GmbH in the area of soft IP healthcare, while on the more contentious end of the spectrum he is representing Philips. This wide-ranging enforcement effort sees Philips seeking to secure licences for both its standard-essential and non-essential telecommunications patents in the fields of UMTS and LTE against a wide array of opponents. Alongside Mirko Weinert and Tobias Hahn, Köhler is supporting longstanding patron Samsung in a series of infringement actions relating to three patents that may be essential to the H.265 digital video coding standard. The equally versatile Weinert is a natural strategist, with a knack for securing clients’ commercial objectives. Another matter in which he joins up with Köhler is for Hanwha QCells, enforcing patent rights in the field of solar cell technology against several competitors. Weinert also works with Haft to represent Heckler & Koch in a patent infringement proceeding to protect a rifle breech system. Perhaps his most high-profile work was as part of the Huawei team in numerous proceedings against Godo Kaisha IP Bridge. Hahn is often looked to for his experience in cross-border litigation coordination. A wide-ranging expert, he has particularly deep knowledge of FRAND and anti-trust defences. Recently, he joined up with Kasper and Kanz to represent Philip Morris International in a large-scale litigation involving both offensive and defensive components against British American Tobacco, relating to heat-not-burn electronic cigarettes. Of counsel Thomas Reimann is a luminary of the German patent profession, with over 40 years of experience in the field. His colleagues regularly seek out his words of wisdom to inform their tactics. Recently minted partner Lars Baum has already established himself as a go-to in the hotly contested SEP/FRAND space and he was recently a member of the core team for Huawei Technologies Co. against Godo Kaisha IP Bridge. With international experience garnered through work experience in the US, Baum is an obvious choice for complex cross-jurisdictional litigation.”