Dr. Marcus Grosch is a German qualified attorney (Rechtsanwalt) and Managing Partner of the German offices. Marcus is a litigator with 25 years of court room experience. He focuses on complex civil litigation, with an emphasis on patent and commercial litigation. Marcus regularly represents industry leading clients in all sectors including high-tech, automotive, life-science, chemical and finance. He has been lead counsel in numerous high-stakes cases, and has outstanding experience in coordinating lawsuits in multiple jurisdictions.
Marcus is one of the rare European “trial lawyers” (to use the American equivalent) who has led cases in all relevant German courts, the EPO (Opposition Divisions and Boards of Appeal), the German PTO and the UPC. Marcus has pleaded several hundred of significant cases before the German District and Appellate Courts, including the Federal Supreme Court in nullity appeals. He is intimately familiar with all aspects of procedural law and practice, including interim relief, rules of evidence as well as appeal and has in depth experience regarding all aspects of international procedure, including section 1782 USC motions (US federal discovery assisting foreign litigation). He has been successful in several legal milestone cases, including cases against the odds like the Federal Supreme Court’s widely cited leading precedent changing the law on the stay of injunctive relief which was based on one of the extremely rare motions for reconsideration (BGHZ 202, 288 – for Motorola/Google versus Microsoft).
Beyond his court room practice, Marcus has significant experience in all fields of complex dispute resolution, including commercial litigation strategy, finance litigation and international arbitration. For years, he has been a lead strategy advisor to one of the biggest automotive OEMs in the Diesel emission litigation and regularly acts in complex arbitration matters in various fields, including construction and energy. Marcus has advised clients in corporate litigation matters, including cases for interim relief regarding voting rights and take-over scenarios as well as banks and funds in disputes over financial investments.
For the last 20 years, Marcus has been regularly awarded top ratings in leading international and German ranking publications (see detailed list in “awards”). Most recently in the 2022 Chambers Global ranking, a source stated that “he is extremely successful in winning even the most difficult arguments; he has an absolutely superb fighting spirit and perfect focus to the clients' needs.” He is also recognized by Chambers Global for his “Foreign Expertise in USA”.
IAM Patent 1000 also ranks Marcus as a “Leading Individual” for patent infringement cases in Germany, stating that he “has chalked up 20 years of courtroom experience in high-stakes, multi-jurisdictional battles”.
JUVE quotes opposing counsel who called him a “difficult opponent. He always knows his cases extremely well” and commented on his “outstanding presence in the courtroom“.
Marcus holds degrees from the University of Mannheim (JD equivalent and Ph.D., summa cum laude) and Yale University Law School (LL.M.). He was a member of the German National Academic Foundation (Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes), Germany’s elite scholarship foundation.
Marcus regularly publishes books, treatises and articles that have been cited by the German courts, including the Federal Supreme Court on several occasions. He also publishes in English like the key parts in the chapter on judicial patent proceedings and case management in Germany in the international WIPO guide on patent case management for judges (https://www.wipo.int/patent-judicial-guide/en/full-guide/germany/5.6) or his article on preliminary injunctive relief in the UPC in the first edition of the GRUR-Patent in 2023 (GRUR Patent - 01-23 - Marcus Grosch - Provisional injunctions in the UPC.pdf).
- BASF
- BlackBerry
- Mercedes-Benz
- Dexcom
- Jennewein Biotechnologie
- Netflix
- Qualcomm
- Representing Google in its worldwide dispute against Sonos, in which we recently secured the dismissal of a PI application against Google at the appellate level (Hamburg court). This has been one of the front runner cases regarding strategy in German patent litigation.
- Successfully defending Netflix in a series of patent proceedings against Broadcom before the Mannheim court, the EPO and the Federal Patent Court.
- Successfully defending Google against Philips in the Düsseldorf and the Mannheim infringement courts and at various appellate levels, including the Federal Supreme Court.
- Securing a key injunction for Qualcomm against Apple pertaining to iPhones 8 in the Munich court.
- Securing several injunctions for Blackberry against Facebook, WhatsApp et al. in significant proceedings relating to mobile phone patents in the Munich court.
- Securing an important victory for BASF in a commercially significant dispute over soles for sports shoes in the Düsseldorf court.
- Successfully defending Daimler AG in the dispute over connected cars patents and standard essential patents, one of the largest patent disputes of the past decade, in various courts, including Mannheim, Munich, Düsseldorf, EPO and Federal Patent Court.
- Securing an injunction for a major global medical device manufacturer in the Mannheim court.
- Mannheim University
(Law degree, J.D. equivalent, 1996/97)- Second State Examination (1999)
- Bar Admission (1999)
- Mannheim University
(PhD, Law (Dr. iur), summa cum laude, 2001/2002) - Yale University Law School
(LL.M., 2001)
- Admitted to the German bar (Rechtsanwaltskammer Karlsruhe)
- German
- English
- Allen & Overy:
- Partner, 2007-2010
- Partner, 2007-2010
- Schilling & Grosch:
- Partner, 2002-2006
- Partner, 2002-2006
- Schilling, Zutt & Anschütz, Frankfurt:
- Associate, 1997-2000
- Recognized by JUVE in 2023 as one of the leading individuals in the field of patent litigation. He has been ranked since 2012.
- Recognized by Chambers Europe as a “Notable Practitioner” in 2023, he has been ranked in Band 1 for Patent Litigation in Germany since 2015. In 2023, Marcus was ranked by Chambers Global in Band 1 for Intellectual Property: Patent Litigation (Germany) (as already since 2016) and for Intellectual Property as a Foreign expert for USA (since 2017).
- In their 2023 rankings, Marcus was again named a “Patent Star” by Managing IP: IP Stars, having been ranked since 2016.
- Legal 500 Deutschland 2023 ranked him again as a “Leading Name” for Patent Litigation in Germany in Tier 1. He has been ranked since 2015.
- IAM Patent 1000: The World’s Leading Patent Professionals has given him top rankings (Gold) in their 2023 edition for Patent Infringement in Germany and has done so since 2016. He was selected for the 2023 edition of the IAM Global Leaders Guide which features the IP elite from across the IAM Patent 1000 rankings.
- Who’s Who Legal 2023 recommends him as National Leader for Patents in Germany, as well as Thought and Global Leader (Patents) since 2018.
- Ranked by The Best Lawyers in Germany for Appellate Practice, Intellectual Property Law and Litigation in 2024 and 2023, for Intellectual Property Law and Litigation in 2022 and 2021, for Intellectual Property Law and Dispute Resolution in 2020 and for Intellectual Property from 2014-2019. In the 2021 edition of Handelsblatt/Best Lawyers - The Best Lawyers in Germany, he was named “Lawyer of the Year – Intellectual Property”.
- Ranked by Leaders League as “Excellent” for Patent Litigation in 2023 and 2022 and recommended for Commercial Litigation in 2022.
- WirtschaftsWoche named him a “Legal All Star” for Patent Law in their 2022 rankings and has done so since 2020. He was named a “Top Lawyer” for Patent Law in their 2021 rankings.
- Euromoney Expert Guides 2022 ranked him in the “Best of the Best” category for Patent Litigation in the USA and Germany and in 2020 in the “Best of the Best” category for Patent Litigation in Germany.
- Recognized by JUVE as one of the top 40 German lawyers under 40 years of age in 2006 and 2012.
- First award for excellence in academic writing in the German language for his dissertation thesis (awarded by the Mannheim University and the Duden publishing house)
- Awarded scholarships by the German National Academic Foundation (the elite German scholarship foundation), 1992-1996 and by the ERP program in 2000
- Author of chapter 5.6 and 5.9 of Judicial patent proceedings and case management in Germany, in the International WIPO Guide on Patent Case Management for Judges (2023)
- Article: Provisional injunctions in the UPC and the sufficient degree of certainty regarding validity in GRUR Patent 1/2023, p. 25 et seq.
- Prozessrecht (Hauptsacheverfahren und Zwangsvollstreckung zum Unterlassungsanspruch) in UWG Großkommentar, Dritter Band, § 12 Abschnitt A, 3rd Ed. 2020
- Review: Thomas Kühnen, Handbuch der Patentverletzung, 12th Ed. 2020, GRUR 2020 p. 594 et seq.
- Handbook on Know-How Protection, editor and co-author with C. Ann, M. Loschelder (Heymans, 2010)
- Zum Streitgegenstand im Patentverletzungsprozess unter Berücksichtigung der Rechtsprechung zum Wettbewerbs- und Markenprozess, Festschrift for Tilman Schilling, pp. 207 – 236 (2007)
- Gewerbliche Schutzrechte und ihre Durchsetzung, Festschrift for Tilman Schilling, co-author with Prof. Dr. Eike Ullmann (2007)
- Review: Prof. Sack, Unbegründete Schutzrechtsverwarnungen, Mitteilungen der deutschen Patentanwälte, p. 93 (2007)
- Schadensersatzfeststellung und Rechnungslegung für die Zeit nach Schluss der mündlichen Verhandlung? Festschrift for Günther Eisenführ, co-author Tilman Schilling, p. 131 (2003)
- Rechtswandel und Rechtskraft bei Unterlassungsurteilen (Heidelberg, 2002)
- Mitteilungen der deutschen Patentanwälte 2002, p. 485 (comment on a decision of the German Patent Court)
- Freiburg University:
- Lecturer in Patent Law, since 2007
- Member, GRUR
- Member, AIPPI
- Member, German Bar Association (Deutscher Anwaltsverein)