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“Instructing Plougmann Vingtoft is a natural choice”, enthuses one very happy patron. “It is an extremely skilled, thorough and well-organised firm, and while the team may be positioned outside of our organisation, they serve as an extension of our business when it comes to sensitive and strategic IP discussions.” The full-service consultancy offers a very meaningful service to its patrons: it is home to some of the best and brightest trademark attorneys, has its own in-house commercialisation and tech-transfer unit, which specialises in generating value from new technologies, and also has the wherewithal to fight infringement fires as and when they come up. Heading up the opposition and litigation unit, Kim Wagner knows everything there is to know about opposition proceedings and has a flawless track record at the EPO. He is counsel of choice to the likes of Nestlé, for whom he has brought home one win after another. Co-stars Katja Sørensen, Jakob Schwalbe Lohmann, Jan Mondrup Pedersen and Christian Christiansen also deftly navigate the life sciences and regulated industries. An authority in the food and agriculture sectors, and a trained chemist, “Sørensen eagerly shares and disseminates her knowledge on all the practicalities of preparing an application, which is extremely valuable to small companies. Her technical input makes inventions stand out sharper, and her informal personality, efficient approach and willingness to give proper feedback make a difference.” As a named co-inventor on several patents, Schwalbe Lohmann relates to innovators and entrepreneurs, and guides them through the patenting process with ease. He has recently been devising patent strategies for Blue Cell Therapeutics, while Mondrup Pedersen has been assisting Biomar with theirs. “Jan is phenomenal when it comes to biotechnology matters; he is technically brilliant, gets to grips with complex inventions quickly and has a profound knowledge of EPO case law.” For Statens Serum Institute, Christiansen has been busy beefing up its patent portfolio on a global scale and is a discerning choice for those looking to prosecute SPCs in the pharmaceutical and agricultural fields. Heading up the technology and software groups out of Copenhagen and Aarhus, respectively, are Per Jørgen Nygreen and Peter Sørensen. Devising long-term and large-scale strategies comes naturally to Jørgen Nygreen, whose previous positions at the Von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics in Belgium and at the Technical University of Denmark inform his business-savvy advice. Similarly, “Sørensen is a skilled practitioner and tremendous adviser, whose insights into his clients’ business processes and key research areas ensure that his guidance really aligns with their industry and company objectives.” Electrical engineer Michael Friis Sørensen is the resident acoustics guru. He has carved out a niche in audio processing and communications systems where he produces flawless patent applications. Senior patent attorney Claus Elmeros acquits himself with distinction when evaluating patentability and, as a testament to his technical prowess, he regularly serves as a court-appointed expert, and also holds post as a technical judge at the Maritime and Commercial High Court as well as the Western and Eastern High Courts.
Katja Sørensen is a partner and European Patent Attorney at Plougmann Vingtoft. She counsels mainly within the areas of chemistry, biotechnology, biochemistry, food science and technology and food ingredients.
Ms Sørensen has worked in intellectual property since 2000 and joined Plougmann Vingtoft in 2006. Ever since, her clients have benefited greatly from her deep expertise and experience in the food, agriculture and chemistry area. As an acknowledgement of her business flair, high performance and deep insight into market and customer needs, she was appointed partner in 2014.
Ms Sørensen has experience in identifying inventions, drafting and handling patent applications, conducting freedom-to-operate analyses and litigations, and has solid knowledge of handling re-establishment of rights cases before the European Patent Office and the Danish Patent Office.
In addition, she is specialised in performing searches in patent and scientific databases and is highly skilled in developing and using IP rights analyses as a tool for risk assessment and idea generation in processes of development.
Ms Sørensen is an experienced lecturer on issues relating to patent and IP protection, as well as database searches, and has worked as a senior examiner at the Danish Patent Office.
She has successfully completed the course on patent litigation in Europe at the Centre for International Intellectual Property Studies of the University of Strasbourg, and she will therefore receive the European Patent Litigation Certificate under the Unified Patent Court when the latter starts operating.
She is a member of the Standing Advisory Committee before the European Patent Office, Subgroup Patent Documentation and Information.
Plougmann Vingtoft is an award-winning IP consultancy firm that specialises in handling, protecting and commercialising all types of intellectual property, including patents, trademarks and designs.
Plougmann Vingtoft has a large team of dedicated employees working out of its headquarters in Hellerup (Copenhagen) and four additional offices in Aarhus, Oslo, Munich and Madrid.
The firm also boasts a comprehensive network of business partners and agents around the globe, which enables it to provide services to clients in any part of the world, both directly and through international agents.
Full-service IP consultancy
Plougmann Vingtoft is a full-service IP consultancy that employs some of the best patent, trademark and design attorneys in Denmark, including 15 European patent attorneys and three European trademark and design attorneys. In addition, the firm employs a team of experienced paralegals to support the attorneys and handle all IP administration, which ensures a cost-efficient, well-operated and highly professional service to all clients.
The firm has also set up an in-house commercialisation and tech-transfer team, marketed under the separate brand ‘tto’. tto specialises in generating value from new technologies in combination with IP rights. The tto experts assist clients facing challenges in a transition phase from early-stage development to commercialisation or exit.
Selected services
Plougmann Vingtoft’s IP attorneys conduct searches and analyses, prepare IP strategies and evaluations in addition to drafting and prosecuting IP applications. Also, the firm has extensive experience representing clients in complex opposition and litigation cases before the European Patent Office and national courts in Denmark and Norway.
Since the firm’s creation in 1967, the core competence of Plougmann Vingtoft’s attorneys has been to assess clients’ IP rights and find the most advantageous way to protect them. The firm’s IP experts thus specialise in assisting clients in turning their intellectual property into a driving force behind their general business strategy.
Social responsibility
Since 2008 Plougmann Vingtoft has taken part in the United Nations (UN) Global Compact, a voluntary initiative based on a commitment to implement universal sustainability principles and to take steps to support the UN global goals.
Consequently, Plougmann Vingtoft focuses on implementing socially responsible business practices in its interaction with clients, employees and communities.
First, the firm works with industry leaders within the fields of renewable energy, new technologies, pharma and healthcare.
Second, the firm assists small and medium-sized enterprises and universities in pursuing potentially groundbreaking ideas. Plougmann Vingtoft makes sure that innovative thinking pays off.
Third, the firm is committed to helping start-ups to make a success of their sustainable ideas. Every year, Plougmann Vingtoft donates expert consulting worth of Dkr50,000 to a start-up with a solution that impacts on one or several of the UN global goals directly. This initiative is marketed under the name IP Matters.
Memberships
- European Patent Institute
- International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys
- International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property
- Association of Danish Intellectual Property Attorneys
- Norwegian Patent Attorney Association
- Licensing Executives Society
- Asian Patent Attorneys Association
- International Trademark Association
- European Communities Trademark Association
- Danish Institute for Intellectual Property Rights
History
Plougmann Vingtoft was founded in 1967 by Knud Erik Vingtoft and Ole Plougmann.
Mr Plougmann was a chemical engineer with plans to revolutionise the patent world; Mr Vingtoft was a mechanical engineer whose attention was caught by the patent industry in 1959. Together they created a firm that has, ever since, influenced the way people approach IP rights. The two engineers’ pioneering work in biotechnology and information technology led to strong IP positions for their clients and made the name Plougmann Vingtoft well known in the business.
In addition, the two founders’ interest in the commercialisation of research results made the firm one of the main players in building collaborations between private companies, universities and scientists in Denmark, as well as internationally.
The founders’ work and values are still a big part of Plougmann Vingtoft today.