Ben is a German attorney-at-law and partner and heads the Düsseldorf office. His expertise is patent litigation, having advised and acted in more than a hundred infringement matters in Germany, including cross-border disputes relating to the UK and the US, among other countries. He was involved in the case of Visto Corporation v Research in Motion, and acted for Ericsson in the dispute of IPCom v Deutsche Telekom.
Ben has more than 15 years experience in IP and worked as a partner in several major firms in Germany, including Taylor Wessing and DLA Piper.
Ben also advises on employee inventions, license and R&D agreements, copyright and unfair competition law. His clients come from many industries including telecommunications, consumer electronics, general engineering, pharma and medical devices.
Ben is a frequent speaker at conferences, including at the CASRIP Institute in Seattle/USA, where he is a member of the Advisory Committee.
Experience
- Acting for Visto Corporation v Research In Motion
- Acting for Ericsson in the dispute of IPCom v Deutsche Telekom
- Acting for a generics manufacturer in pharma cases involving SPCs
- Acting for a leading supplier of car antenna systems in a case about four patents
- Acting in a major international case (five patents) in the LED sector
- Acting for various national and international clients in litigations regarding sports equipment (eg bicycle gear hubs), implants (dental, hip, and others), wind turbines, tools (such as knives and sawblades), joining technologies (such as screws), printing press technology and agricultural tools
- In the field of telecommunications, acting for patentees and defendants in many cases about standard essential patents relating to standards such as GSM, GPRS, UMTS, LTE, WiMAX, MPEG, MP3, and others, also dealing with the anti-trust aspects of such matters
Recent work
- Acting for Unwired Planet International Limited (first chair in Germany) v Google, Samsung, Huawei, HTC and LG regarding six patents covering Android, 2G, 3G and LTE technologies (link)
- Acting for Good Technology in a major international litigation (first chair in Germany) against two competitors
Published articles
- 2013
GRUR Int. 2013, p 770-773, “Q235: Term of copyright protection”; German Group’s report for AIPPI (Co-author and main editor) (link) - October 2012
Managing IP Magazine, Case report “Supreme Court Develops Doctrine of Equivalence” - 2008
GRUR Int. 2008, p 944-953 , “Q205: Exhaustion of IPRs in cases of recycling or repair of goods”; German Group’s report for AIPPI (co-author) (link) - 2008 ff.
Written Course: „Forschungs- und Entwicklungsverträge” published by Euroforum, “Rechte an und Verwertung von F&E-Ergebnissen/Vertragliche Regelungen” - 2008
International Clinical Trials Magazine, Article “Developments in Clinical Trial Agreements” (together with Valerie Budd and Tim Worden) - September/October 2007
Pharmaceutical Marketing Europe, Contribution to article “Do you know the regulatory position on giving promotional aids for POMs to healthcare professionals?” - May 2007
Partner Newsletter, Article “TRIPS plus endlich auch in Deutschland – Anmerkungen zur Umsetzung der Enforcement-Richtlinie” (“TRIPS plus finally also in Germany – Comments on the implementation of the Enforcement Directive“) (together with Christian Kau) (link) - March 2007
Management Circle: Written course "Law for non lawyers", Section “Patentrecht” (“Patent law”) - December 2006/January 2007
Intellectual Asset Management Magazine, Contribution to a written “round table discussion” on infringement proceedings (link) - December 2006
Patent World, Case comment on RIM v InPro (together with Gary Moss) - April 2006
Patent World, Article on European patent litigation issues (together with Gary Moss)
Education and qualifications
-
1997 — 2000
Legal clerkship, Cologne Higher Regional Court -
1991 — 1997
Law studies, University of Cologne
Career history
- December 2013 — present
Partner, EIP Europe LLP - August 2013 — November 2013
Attorney-at-Law, Rechtsanwaltskanzlei Grzimek - March 2012 — August 2013
Partner, Maiwald Patentanwalts GmbH - February 2011 — February 2012
Partner, DLA Piper - November 2005 — January 2011
Partner, Taylor Wessing - 2000 — 2005
Attorney-at-Law, Noerr Stiefenhofer Lutz
Awards and recognition
- Recommended patent litigator, JUVE handbooks 2007-2011
Languages spoken
- German
- English
- Spanish
- French
Speaking engagements
- Berlin 2014
"Professionelle F&E-Verträge" at Euroforum seminar, "Vertragsgestaltung und Rechte an F&E-Ergebnissen" (link) - London 2014
IPAG 11th Annual Conference (together with Darren Smyth of EIP London), "Utility Models v Patents" (link) - Seattle 2014
High Technology Protection Summit of Washington University/CASRIP, Ethical Issues in Patent Licensing (link) - Düsseldorf 2014
Euroforum seminar "Professionelle F&E-Verträge", "Vertragsgestaltung und Rechte an F&E-Ergebnissen" (link) - Helsinki 2013
AIPPI Forum and ExCo Meeting, "Q235: Term of copyright protection" (link) - Seattle 2013
High Technology Protection Summit of Washington University/CASRIP, Panel discussion and presentation on „Divided or Joint Infringement: The Impact of Akamai on ISP’s IP Infringement Liability" - Seattle 2013
"IP and National Innovation Strategies in Asia-Pacific Conference" at the University of Washington/CASRIP, "Divided or Joint Infringement: The Impact of Akamai on ISP’s IP Infringement Liability" - Düsseldorf 2013
Annual Meeting of the German Group in AIPPI, Term of copyright protection - Munich 2012
IP Service World, Presentation and Round-Table Discussion on „Issues in Dealing with Non-Practicing Entities“ - Seattle 2012
High Technology Protection Summit of Washington University/CASRIP, Panel discussion and presentation on „Negotiating Global Licensing Terms and Royalties: Impact of Cross-Border Infringement“ - Düsseldorf 2012
Euroforum seminar "Der Experte für F&E-Verträge", "Rechte an F&E-Ergebnissen" (link) - Seattle 2011
High Technology Protection Summit of Washington University/CASRIP, Panel discussion on „Competition Issues in Global Licensing Strategies: Recent Case Law Developments in the United States and EU“ and presentation „Comparative Patent Litigation Update - Germany“ - 2011
Transnational Intellectual Property Program at the University of Alicante, Speaking on German trials and German patent litigation - Seattle 2010
High Technology Protection Summit of Washington University/CASRIP, Panel discussion and speaking on „Confidential Information and In-Camera Procedure“ (link) - 2010
Transnational Intellectual Property Program at the Technical University of Dresden, German patent litigation: A comparative view (link) - London 2009
IBC Standards & Patents Conference, Standards & Patents: German perspective (link) - Seattle 2009
High Technology Protection Summit of Washington University/CASRIP, Panel discussion on “Forum Shopping, Controversy Requirement, and other Issues” - Seattle 2009
International Intellectual Property seminar of Washington University/CASRIP, Lecture on “The Implementation of the European Enforcement Directive” - Leverkusen 2008
VPP event on global patent litigation issues, German patent litigation - 2008, 2009 and 2010
Management Forum Seminar "Technology Licensing", Various German and European licensing topics - Seattle 2008
High Technology Protection Summit at the University of Washington School of Law / Centre for Advanced Study and Research on Intellectual Property (CASRIP), Lecture on “Extraterritorial Patent Litigation” - Cologne 2007
Fresenius conference “Fachtagung Qualität und Hygiene im Lebensmittel-Anlagenbetrieb” (“Quality and hygiene when maintaining food production plants“), Speaking on patent infringement issues - 2007-2013
Management Circle seminar “Crashkurs Patentrecht” , Seminar creator, head and presenter on various patent, licensing, litigation and employee inventions topics (link) - Hamburg 2006
Fresenius conference “Fachtagung Optimierung und Modernisierung bestehender Abfüllanlagen” (“Optimising and modernising existing bottling systems“), Speaking on patent infringement issues - 2006-2009
Euroforum seminar “Strategien bei Patentverletzungen” (“Strategies in patent infringement cases”), Creation of and participation as the main speaker on different topics - 2006 and 2008
Euroforum seminar on employee inventions, "FuE-Verträge" ("R&D contracts")