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This latest annual listing of Europe’s leading patent law firms is based on recommendations by clients and peers, as compiled by the FT’s research partner Statista.
A total of 215 recommended firms offering the services of patent attorneys feature in the overall list, sorted in alphabetical order in the main table below (use the arrow buttons at the top of the columns to sort by name or country).
Firms that were especially recommended for their services in six areas of industrial expertise — Biotechnology, Food & Healthcare; Chemistry & Pharmacy; Electrical Engineering & Physics; IT & Software; Materials & Nanotechnology; and Mechanical Engineering — have been included in separate sector lists (below the main table). These firms are ranked in three classes: gold (very frequently recommended); silver (frequently recommended); and bronze (recommended).
Scroll below the tables for the full methodology.
Methodology
The FT Europe’s Leading Patent Law Firms list is composed of the most recommended patent law firms for services around patent prosecution and patent strategy consultation in Europe. This list is based on an online survey of patent attorneys working in patent law firms and as experts in the patent departments of companies (peer-to-peer survey); and of clients who have consulted or commissioned a patent law firm
Survey and sample
More than 10,000 patent attorneys working in patent law firms or in the patent departments of companies as well as clients, were invited to take part in the survey. The sample was collected via research conducted by Statista on company websites, in publications and from the Institute of Professional Representatives before the European Patent Office, the professional body representing European patent attorneys. The invitations were sent by email with a personalised link that could be used only once.
Patent attorneys and clients who did not receive an individual survey invitation could participate via a link published on FT.com. In these cases, the participants had to validate themselves, such as by entering their dedicated company email address, before their answers were considered for evaluation. Survey participants were also able to nominate qualified patent attorneys or clients who then received an email invitation as well.
Survey participants were able to recommend patent law firms in six sectors:
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Chemistry & Pharmacy
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Electrical Engineering & Physics
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Mechanical Engineering
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Biotechnology, Food & Healthcare
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Materials & Nano Technology
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IT & Software
The survey was conducted between February 6 and March 23 this year. In total, the recommendations of more than 3,300 clients and peers were considered. The recommendations from the previous year’s survey were used with a low weight in order to do justice to the continuously high reputation of a patent law firm’s activity. Self-recommendations (recommending one’s own law firm) and attempts to participate multiple times were prohibited and not taken into consideration.
Top lists
The top patent law firms are selected based on the number of recommendations. In total, 217 recommended firms offering the services of patent attorneys are in the overall top list, sorted in alphabetical order. Their websites, as well as their country of origin, have been researched and recorded.
Firms that were especially highly recommended for their services in one of the six selected sectors have been listed on the respective sector lists. They were ranked in three classes: gold (very frequently recommended), silver (frequently recommended), and bronze (recommended).
