EIP has announced its second major practice development in six months by opening its first office in Germany.
The office in Düsseldorf will be headed by partner Benjamin Grzimek, who joined EIP from a leading IP firm in Germany and who is a recognised specialist in patent litigation having worked on several high-profile cases including Visto Corporationv Research in Motion,and acted for Ericsson in the dispute of IPCom v Deutsche Telekom.
The Düsseldorf location will be EIP’s sixth office when it opens in December 2013. The focus of the office will be on IP litigation services. Düsseldorf is a major centre for patent litigation with the Düsseldorf District and Appeals Courts handling more cases than any other court in Europe. It is also expected that one of the European Unitary Patents Courts will be located in the city.
The move represents yet another major development for EIP, and follows the opening of its office in San Diego, California, in May 2013, a move which saw EIP become the first UK Intellectual Property Law firm to open a US law office.
Partner and head of EIP Legal, Gary Moss, said: “This is another exciting new development of EIP. With the opening of our Düsseldorf office, EIP now has offices in the three most important jurisdictions in the world for patent litigation. Ben Grzimek and I worked together at Taylor Wessing and we have cooperated subsequently on other cases. I have a high regard for his abilities. The partners are confident that in Ben we have the right person to take this new venture forward. There is no doubt that the UK and Germany will remain at the forefront of patent litigation in Europe and we now have the structure in place to be able to handle cases in both jurisdictions.”
Partner Ben Grzimek said: “EIP is well-known in the UK with an interesting and highly appealing approach to IP services. I fully endorse their commitment to providing excellent work to their clients and I’m eager to establish the firm in Germany in the same way. I’m particularly thrilled to work even more closely with EIP’s growing team of solicitors and to be reunited with Gary.”