JUVE Patent reports daily on the latest developments in the European patent market. Now, the renowned online portal has identified the best 10 patent cases of 2021. Particularly rewarding for Cohausz & Florack (C&F): the firm was significantly involved in three of the ten selected cases.
Patents for robotics technology are at issue in a case between AutoStore, a Norway-based manufacturer of warehouse automation systems, and Ocado, a logistics service provider for online grocery retailing headquartered in the UK. The lawsuit now occupies several courts in the U.S., U.K. and Germany. The C&F team represents Ocado - together with the law firms Powell Gilbert (London) and Wildanger Kehrwald Graf v. Schwerin & Partner (Düsseldorf).
Another case from 2021 judged by JUVE Patent as outstanding concerns a major pharmaceutical dispute. In this case, the European Patent Office (EPO) upheld a dosage regimen patent owned by Bayer (EP 1 845 961) for Xarelto, a drug used to inhibit blood clotting, thus overturning a first-instance decision. Together with the law firm Hoffmann Eitle (Munich), C&F was able to achieve this important success for Bayer. With a total of 15 opponents, the opposition proceedings were one of the largest in the history of the European Patent Office.
The third high-stakes case in which C&F is involved, is one of the first major global proceedings from the field of 5G technology. In the past, the Finnish mobile communications giant, Nokia, had filed several lawsuits against the Chinese smartphone manufacturer, Oppo. These relate, among other things, to SEPs (standard essential patents) and FRAND licensing conditions that come with such patents. SEP proceedings are among the most important in the infringement business worldwide due to their economic importance in numerous technology sectors. C&F initiated the first SEP proceedings in Germany back in 2000. Since then, global SEP proceedings have largely been heard in Germany - including the case of Nokia against Oppo. In Germany, Nokia is represented not only by C&F experts, but also by the law firms Arnold Ruess (Düsseldorf), Bird & Bird, and Samson & Partner (Munich).
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