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The Firm
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"... technically excellent, client-focused and solution-oriented team ..."
Chambers Global 2008
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"Law firm of the Year for Patent Law"
JUVE Handbook on Commercial Law Firms 2007/2008
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"Gleiss Lutz has a thriving patent litigation practice ..."
Legal 500, 2007
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Patent law has traditionally been a strong focus of the IP practice at Gleiss Lutz. Rooted in the pharmaceutical industry, our patent practice now extends to all areas of science and technology, including chemistry, biotechnology, information technology, medicine, process engineering, vehicle manufacture, semiconductors, electronics and mechanical engineering.
Patent litigation – both national and international ‑ forms an important part of our practice, and one which has earned us an excellent reputation. Whether it is a matter of enforcing patents or warding off attacks by competitors, we are always there to assist our clients and safeguard their interests. We represent them in patent infringement cases, injunction procedures, vindication procedures, or actions for preventive declaratory relief in the relevant courts all over Germany, above all in the patent litigation divisions in Düsseldorf, being the most important ones in practice. We also work together with patent agents to represent our clients in nullity and opposition proceedings in the Federal Patent Court, the European Patent Office and the German Patent and Trademark Office in Munich. With out-of-court dispute settlement now playing an increasingly important role in IP, we also represent our clients in national and international arbitration proceedings.
We are regularly involved in the strategic planning and coordination of cross-border proceedings in Europe and frequently liaise with colleagues in other jurisdictions, especially the USA, regarding parallel proceedings in the respective countries. In doing so we sometimes make use of the possibilities available in other countries for collecting evidence (saisie contrefaçon in France and Belgium, disclosure examination in England, pre-trial discovery in the USA, etc.) for patent litigations in Germany, too. We have built up a network of first-class patent and IP lawyers all over Europe, the USA and other important jurisdictions, with whom we have a highly successful and effective working relationship. As an independent, non-merged law firm, we can take into consideration the client’s special wishes and the specific circumstances of the case in hand when selecting local counsel.
As a commercial law firm with a wealth of experience in transactions, we not only know how to enforce technical IP rights, but also how to commercialise them, e.g. in the context of licensing projects, research and development cooperations, joint venture contracts, and the protection and transfer of IP rights and know-how. Thanks to our many years of experience, we enjoy our clients’ full trust when it comes to actively structuring technology transfers of all kinds. As a law firm well-known for our broad competition expertise, too, we are able to factor in the competition aspects right from the start, enabling us to exclude the risk of invalidity and fines. It goes without saying that we also examine and assess the IP and licence situation in the context of M&A and private equity/venture capital placements. As a full-service law firm with the complete range of personal and technical resources, our clients know that they can rely on us.
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