Preu Bohlig & Partner

Recommended - Firms: transactions

Silver - Firms: infringement

With four offices across Germany and 20 dedicated patent professionals, Preu Bohlig delivers comprehensive IP services – particularly for names in pharmaceuticals and the automotive/telecom nexus. Known for its compelling and technically astute litigation prowess, the ensemble has also built up regulatory teams to assist its clients with their trickiest IP-rich transactional problems. The office heads are Christian Donle in Berlin, Christian Kau in Dusseldorf, Alexander Harguth in Munich and Daniel Hoppe in Hamburg. Donle is known among his peers as an “extremely strong and competent litigator”. Fierce and tenacious, he is particularly taken up with the firm’s representation of Huawei – either as defendant or intervener – in close to 40 patent litigation matters. “Christian Kau does an outstanding job enforcing his clients’ patents and securing licence agreements. When formulating the licence contracts, he always manages to keep the atmosphere friendly and constructive without losing focus. He has been very effective; in every project, potential customers have agreed to sign licence contacts. Christian quickly understands in depth complex technical subjects and licensing situations, and he can communicate the matters clearly. He always knows the appropriate counter-proposal in negotiations to secure the other side’s assent. In communications with patrons, the response time of Christian and his firm is absolutely excellent and leaves nothing to be desired. Preu Bohlig and especially Dr Christian Kau are the premier choice in IP, especially in effectively settling IP conflicts and formulating licence contracts.” Telecoms specialist Harguth has been working in intellectual property for more than 25 years. He has extensive experience in the management and coordination of complex, cross-border patent infringement proceedings. One high-profile client is Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which has been sued by WSOU Investments, a non-practising entity (NPE), for infringing patents relating to various aspects of network security and online traffic management. A similar matter occupies his advice to network intelligence company Sandvine, which has also been targeted by an NPE alleging patent infringement. Another patron is lighting company Girard Sudron, whom he represents at the Karlsruhe Court of Appeal, in a matter relating to patents for LED chips. “Daniel is a good IP strategist and an excellent litigator. He is commercially oriented and understands clients’ needs quickly. He is intelligent, approachable, highly skilled and provides prompt responses to any queries. Daniel combines his extensive experience in pharmaceutical IP matters and litigation skills in a very effective and pragmatic way.” Hoppe has expertise in the field of trade secrets – he and colleague Axel Oldekop are co-authoring a book on the subject. Oldekop has over 20 years’ experience in the patent profession and is regularly called on for the coordination of parallel infringement and validity proceedings. He takes on matters across a range of technical fields – he represents Ansorg GmbH, a leader in the aisle zone lighting space, in the enforcement of its patents against Swedish company ITAB; he works alongside Harguth for G&B Fissaggi Srl in an infringement proceeding related to dowel patents; he and Kau are suing Miele for infringing the patents of client BORA Vertriebs relating to downdraft systems. Based in Munich, Andreas Haberl has expertise across the contentious and non-contentious patent practices. A skilled negotiator and licence agreement overseer, his enforcement experience ensures that every transaction he works on is keyed to potential litigation down the road. On the contentious front, he has brought patent infringement proceedings for 4Inno Ingenieurgesellschaft before Philips and its subsidiaries. The subject matter of the patent is the control of the colour and brightness of LEDs via a control device such as an app on a smartphone. With Kau, he is also representing WashTec in a dispute against Spanish competitor Istobal involving patents relating to rim-washing components for use in car washes. Matthias Hülsewig has been in the profession for 13 years. He has built up significant expertise litigating standard-essential patents and disputes related to FRAND licences. With Kau, he represented ATT AutomotiveThermoTech GmbH in an extensive patent infringement case against Renault. The nine-patent case relates to technology in cooling passenger car engines. The parties settled at the end of 2021.