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Recommended - Firms: prosecution and nullity
For over six decades Uexküll & Stolberg has been looked to as one of the premier firms for patent work in Northern Germany. With its team in the present day consisting of 14 partners and four associates, the group covers all bases and utilises an international network to serve its clients Europe-wide. While it excels when filing patents, it is also renowned for its work before the EPO, where it has recently appeared for the likes of ExxonMobil and Bayer. Acting for Bayer is Albrecht von Menges, who heads the biotechnology side and leverages 20 years’ experience as a patent attorney. He shares his proficiency in oppositions with Bernd Christian Janssen, Heinz-Peter Muth, and André Guder. Janssen, who heads the technology side, also has two decades’ experience and is looked to by companies in the chemical industry to protect and defend their patents, while Muth has spent the past two decades honing his craft in the pharmaceuticals field. Guder, meanwhile, is a biotechnology ace who recently teamed up with Menges to defend Chr. Hansen before the EPO.
Bronze - Firms
Uexküll & Stolberg has been a full-service IP law firm representing global companies as well as individual entrepreneurs for over 50 years. Initially founded in Hamburg, the firm has become one of the largest IP boutiques in Northern Germany. Today, Uexküll & Stolberg is home to 16 patent attorneys who are admitted to practise before the European Patent Office (EPO), the German Patent and Trademark Office, Germany’s Federal Patent Court and/or the EU Intellectual Property Office. Uexküll & Stolberg’s legal team further includes two attorneys at law who are specialised in trademark and design matters, as well as unfair competition law. The firm employs over 30 full-time staff at its offices in Hamburg and Munich, including highly trained legal personnel, as well as specialists for different languages and patent systems.
The attorneys of Uexküll & Stolberg possess relevant backgrounds in a variety of technical fields and their experience of proceedings and general court practice enables them to handle even the most complicated legal issues with mastery. Furthermore, the firm conscientiously keeps up to date with German and European law developments and takes these into consideration when it helps clients devise their filing and prosecution strategy.
The firm offers the full range of legal services in the field of intellectual property, including patent, utility model, trademark and industrial design prosecution before the German and European authorities. In connection with patents, Uexküll & Stolberg offers services relating to the drafting and prosecution of patent applications. The firm also represents clients in opposition proceedings before the EPO and the German Patent and Trademark Office, as well as in nullity actions before the German Federal Patent Court. Patent infringement proceedings are handled by the patent attorneys of the firm in close cooperation with attorneys at law who are specialised in patent litigation. Uexküll & Stolberg also frequently conducts freedom-to-operate analyses for the German and the European marketplace.
Trademark infringement cases are handled by the firm’s experienced attorneys at law. Uexküll & Stolberg’s services also include trademark availability and validity searches, and opinions and consultancy in licensing matters. The trademark team is not only active in the area of trademark prosecution, but has also a passion for litigation, including out-of-court litigation. The firm opposes infringing trademark applications where necessary, initiates cancellation actions and pursues trademark infringements occurring in Germany before the German civil courts. Another strong focus lies in combating product piracy by acting against unlawful imports of infringing items.
The firm represents a variety of clients, including multinational companies, aspirational start-ups, research institutions and universities, and offers tailor-made and commercially effective IP solutions. Clients of Uexküll & Stolberg include ExxonMobil, Amgen, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceutica, WR Grace, Sealed Air, KRKA, Ivoclar and Monsanto.
Because of the large number of clients with worldwide operations, the firm has established an extensive network with foreign associates that closely cooperate with the firm. All of the partners are fluent in German and English. Individual partners of the firm also speak additional languages such as French, Spanish and Portuguese.
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