Patents
The multi-award-winning patent team at MLL Legal combines outstanding skills in patent litigation with an outstanding understanding of the technical realities in fields such as the chemical and electrical engineering, life sciences and telecomunication industries.
Areas of expertise
- Coordination of international and national patent infringement proceedings
- Validity proceedings
- Ownership disputes
- Representation of parties in arbitration proceedings and work as arbitrators in arbitration proceedings concerning patents and contracts under patent law
- Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs)
- Paediatric intellectual property rights
- Freedom-to-operate (FTO) investigations
- Legal opinions on patent law issues
- Licensing and enforcement of standard-essential patents (SEPs) under FRAND terms
- Consulting and litigation in the field of employee inventions
- IP due diligences in the context of patent transactions
- Research and development agreements
- Patent licence agreements and distribution agreements
- Transfer and assignment of patent portfolios and priority rights
- Contracts concerning the exploitation of patents for financing projects (securities, pledges, etc.)
- Planning of patent boxes
- Services involving both patent law and pharmaceutical law (life cycle planning, regulatory data protection of patented drugs, price reviews and pricing of pharmaceuticals)
Other relevant areas
Trademarks & Designs | Copyright & Media | Geographic indications of origin
“There is no doubt about the fact that Meyerlustenberger Lachenal Froriep is one of the best IP law firms in Switzerland. It has a great team of highly specialised, very experienced practitioners, all of whom are highly regarded in their respective fields”
Publications
Patent Litigation 2024 Switzerland – Trends and Developments
Chambers and Partners, Global Practice Guides, Patent Litigation 2024, February 15, 2024- EN
The Legal 500 Country Comparative Guides 2023 – Switzerland: Patent Litigation
The Legal 500 Country Comparative Guides 2023, November 2023- EN
Patent Litigation 2023 Switzerland – Trends and Developments
Chambers and Partners, Global Practice Guides, Patent Litigation 2023, 01 March 2023- EN
- Simon Holzer
- Ulrike Ciesla
- Louisa Galbraith
- Simon Reuter
The Legal 500 Country Comparative Guides 2022 – Switzerland: Patent Litigation
The Legal 500 Country Comparative Guides 2022, November 2022- EN
Firm News
MLL Legal | INGRES/ETH Zurich IP Retreat | The Measure of All Things in Intellectual Property Law | 8 and 9 September 2023
Our IP Team comes out five-times winner in the Managing IP EMEA Awards 2023
MLL Legal ranked as Top Tier Firm 2023 by IP Stars
Managing IP EMEA Awards 2023 | MLL Legal shortlisted
MLL Legal presents Best IP Law Firm Award at JUVE Award Ceremony in Frankfurt 2022
News Portal
Practice of Intellectual Property Law in Europe – Report on the INGRES meeting of 30 January 2023
For over ten years, this event was held on the Zurichberg. The numerous foreign specialists who attend consider it the best opportunity to obtain and exchange information on the most important developments in European intellectual property law at a high level. It was again conceived and led by Dr Michael Ritscher, while Dr Christoph Gasser was responsible for the organisation. The preceding weekend in the snow has also become an integral part of the calendar of more and more intellectual property law practitioners. As previously, the morning was devoted to patent law and the afternoon to other intellectual property law, and new names joined established speakers.
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Little-Known Pitfall in Application for Paediatric Extensions or Paediatric SPCs
When filing applications for paediatric extensions and paediatric SPCs in Switzerland, it must be kept in mind that Switzerland is not a member state of the European Union and thus has a separate and independent system when it comes to the approval of medicinal products. Paediatric extensions and paediatric SPCs are only granted in Switzerland based on respective Swiss marketing authorizations issued by the competent authority Swissmedic. The relevant provisions in the Swiss Patent Act provide for some very particular conditions that the respective marketing authorizations must meet in order to serve as a basis for the grant of a paediatric extension or paediatric SPC. Those conditions are unique to Switzerland and therefore little-known abroad.
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The Capsule Saga Comes to an End – Swiss Federal Tribunal Denies Trademark Protection to Nespresso Capsules
The Swiss Federal Tribunal has ruled that the shape of the Nespresso capsules is technically necessary and that Nestlé’s 3D trademark shall therefore be cancelled (decision 4A_61/2021 of 7 September 2021).
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Breaking News: German Federal Constitutional Court rejects PI measures against approval of Agreement on Unified Patent Court (UPC)
In an eagerly awaited ruling published on 9 July 2021, the German Federal Constitutional Court rejected two applications for preliminary injunctions directed against the German Act of Approval that was adopted on 18 December 2020 for the purposes of ratifying the Agreement of 19 February 2013 on a Unified Patent Court (UPC).
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Swiss Federal Supreme Court confirms when the Display of Information is a Technical Feature that can Provide an Inventive Step
Is an animated lung on a display of a ventilator machine merely an unpatentable display of information or is it a technical feature that can provide an inventive step? For the first time, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court spoke on the issue that such graphical user interfaces can be technical, and affirmed a Swiss Federal Patent Court’s decision (see BGer 4A_609/2019, July 16, 2020 affirming BPatGer O2017_007 of November 1, 2019). The Courts› holdings are in line with the case law of the EPO’s Boards of Appeal and lay out the requirements that can render the display of information technical for purposes of the European Patent Convention (EPC).
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