The Unified Patent Court (UPC) promotes international cooperation among participating EU member states. In order to properly position themselves for handling cases before the UPC, IP law firms from different countries have joined together to form the European Patent Litigators Network (EPLN). In addition to the two founding members Meissner Bolte (Germany) and Santarelli Group (France) and the sister law firms of SIB (Società Italiana Brevetti) and SIB LEX società tra avvocati from Italy, the renowned IP law firm Arnold & Siedsma from the Netherlands joined the network as its fifth partner on 17 October 2023.

The EPLN pools competences beyond national borders with a view to filing, protecting and enforcing patents and providing the best service and tailored solutions to clients. “We are very pleased that Arnold & Siedsma, as one of the best-known Dutch IP law firms, is now joining our network. Arnold & Siedsma is a mixed firm of experienced legal and patent attorneys. Meissner Bolte has been working with the firm for decades and we greatly value the expertise of our Dutch colleagues,” said Kay Rupprecht, Partner of Meissner Bolte.

Arnold & Siedsma has twelve offices in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland and is a specialist intellectual property law firm. It has a significant share of European patent infringement litigation in the Netherlands and employs patent attorneys, trademark attorneys, design attorneys and attorneys-at-law. The attorneys provide expertise in all major innovative sectors, from biotechnology and pharmaceuticals to semiconductors and software. “The new unitary patent system creates new opportunities and challenges for patent litigation and validation strategies in Europe and beyond. This requires new steps in the field of patent litigation for our clients. Joining the EPLN is an excellent complement to our efforts to advise and assist our clients in the best possible way. We believe that litigation before the UPC requires knowledge of the national law of the member states of the UPC, and the EPLN offers us and our clients the advantage of working with IP law firms that are familiar with IP issues of national law in Germany, France and Italy. We are proud to join this network of leading European IP law firms and look forward to working with Meissner Bolte, Santarelli and SIB, as well as SIB LEX, to break new ground in patent litigation,” said Michiel Rijsdijk, partner at Arnold & Siedsma.

The EPLN makes it possible to advise and represent clients of the respective law firms in cases before the UPC even more comprehensively and at the same time more cost-effectively. The international focus ensures that a wide range of remedies is available to the lawyers to achieve the best results for their clients.

“The addition of Arnold & Siedsma strengthens our network and makes it even more powerful: on the one hand, a not inconsiderable share of European patent infringement litigation takes place in the Netherlands, and on the other hand, the Dutch legal system features a mixture of Continental European law and the original Anglo-American common law, and can thus provide positive influence on the way to a harmonized European patent law practice. Arnold & Siedsma thus brings additional expertise and a whole new, country-specific perspective to the EPLN,” says Jacopo De Benedetti, Managing Partner at SIB.

All participating law firms emphasize the partnership, passion and professional cooperation in the EPLN. “The cooperation has started very well. We regularly consult each other on approaches and legal issues in the different states of the new unitary patent system,” said Christophe Cornuejols, Managing Partner at Santarelli Group. “We all benefit greatly from the experience and resources from each country, and we also already work together. In doing so, we are able to effectively leverage the synergies of the EPLN.”

For more information, visit https://epln.com/