Israel

Alongside S Horowitz, this “leading and important” firm fields the country’s best-known patent litigation practice, focusing primarily on work for pharmaceutical innovators. The firm also assists a number of clients in the telecommunications, high-tech and defence industries, among others. In a high-profile mandate, the firm is acting for the state of Israel in its NIS500 million claim for damages against Omrix Biopharmaceuticals with regard to the misappropriation of technology developed by a government-employed scientist. The firm is also representing Merck & Co in an action brought by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries to oppose Merck’s patent on sitagliptin; the case is typical of the firm’s innovator defence practice. “Notable and highly skilled litigator” Liad Whatstein leads latter’s patent litigation practice.

“One of the most significant players in the field”, this firm is best known for representing Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, the world’s largest generic pharmaceutical producer, in its disputes with innovators in Israel, where Teva is headquartered. Consequently, the firm often locks horns with Dr Shlomo Cohen & Co. Clients are impressed by its “superb quality”, as well as “its depth of understanding of patent law, the intent focus of the team and its clienthandling skills”. Tal Band heads the department and has extensive experience in complex, multi-jurisdictional patent disputes. He recently acted for the Manufacturers’ Association of Israel, successfully opposing attempts by H Lundbeck to extend an Israeli patent protecting Cipralex. Ran Vogel is another highly respected associate.

This “excellent” IP litigation boutique focuses on patent disputes. Its enviable client list includes prestigious pharmaceutical innovators H Lundbeck, MerckSerono, Pfizer, Bayer and Albermarle, as well as players in the telecommunications and high-tech fields, such as Cisco, Motorola, HTC and SanDisk. The firm represented GlaxoSmithKline in a number of patent cases relating to Avandia, and acted for MerckSerono in a biotechnology patent dispute with Israel Bio Engineering Project. The practice is built around name partner Richard Luthi, who enjoys an extremely strong reputation, especially for his work with pharmaceutical innovators.

This longstanding and successful IP boutique represents clients in litigation covering the full range of patents. The team includes “highly skilled, experienced and well-known” name partners Eran Bareket and David Gilat. Gilat has recently been working extensively with long-term client Israel Aerospace Industries on disputes over its IP rights, while Barekat led the team defending Bezeq International, 013 Netvision and 012 Smile Telecommunications against alleged infringement of a patent concerning pre-paid telephony systems.