Taylor Wessing has enhanced its IP presence in Vienna hiring prominent patent litigation partner Thomas Adocker from leading Austrian IP firm Schwarz Schönherr.

The move comes as the Unified Patent Court (UPC) prepares to open its doors in June after decades in the making; Vienna will host a local division of the Court of First Instance. 

Adocker is a recognised expert on the UPC, co-authoring a textbook regarding the Unitary Patent and the UPC. He is also a co-organiser of a webinar series on the UPC, which includes appointed UPC judges from Austria, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Belgium as panellists. 

Taylor Wessing says he is thus best prepared to handle matters being channelled through the new patent system.  

Martin Prohaska-Marchried, who heads the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) IP team, said: “Thomas’ comprehensive expertise with multinational cases makes him a highly valuable member of Taylor Wessing's IP team and in particular of our patent litigators in the UPC territory. We are very much looking forward to working with him."

Adocker added: “At Taylor Wessing CEE, I have the opportunity to actively shape the future path of the patents team based on my expertise. I am also looking forward to the international environment of Taylor Wessing.” 

For more than 20 years, Adocker has been active in intellectual property, with a strong focus on patent law, in particular with respect to litigation, licensing and technology transfer. 

He represents clients in major Austrian patent infringement cases, especially in the pharmaceutical and medical device sectors and has broad know-how in connection with multinational disputes. Additionally, Adocker specialises in life sciences and regulatory issues.

The UPC will enable uniform patent protection across all participating EU member states by way of a single patent application filed with the European Patent Office (EPO) in Munich - the unitary patent - and provide a centralised platform for Europe-wide patent litigation before the UPC.

The countdown to its launch only reached its final stage in February when Germany deposited its instrument of ratification of the agreement.

That opened the UPC’s case management system, initiating the court’s sunrise period on 1 March giving businesses three months to decide whether to take their patents out of the UPC system before full commencement and lodging representatives’ credentials with the new court’s registry.