Comment: In the seven years since it was founded, Geistwert has not only managed to include its fancy name as part of the firm’s name in the company register, but has also established itself as one of the market-leading firms in trademark and competition law. […]

The five partners of the Vienna boutique have become strong challengers to the market leaders. Competitors highlight the team’s large presence in IP litigation. A recent highlight was the representation of Red Bull against Bullsone, which led to a substantial extension of trademark rights and a Union-wide injunction. Another example is the representation of the Russian optics producer Krasnogorsky Zavod against Lomografische AG to enforce an arbitration award obtained and a counterclaim under unfair competition law. Partner Messner most recently acted internationally as chair of the arbitration tribunal in Milan in an international trade mark infringement case involving a luxury fashion brand.

The law firm scored a success on its own account with a landmark decision before the Supreme Court, which allowed it to register its fancy name Geistwert as a law firm in the company register. […] The firm plays in the top league especially in pharmaceutical lawsuits and represents, for example, Genentech and Hoffmann La Roche against Sandoz in the international dispute over the cancer drug Rituximab. The team is also involved in several SPC proceedings. Recently, it has also been involved in major international proceedings through its good contacts with leading patent teams in Germany and the UK.

Since its foundation, the partner-centred approach and close cooperation between the partners have been trademarks of the firm. Whether this concept will bear fruit in the long term or slow down the dynamic development so far remains to be seen. Geistwert has so far used the time that other firms invest in promoting young talent to develop IT solutions for their clients.

Strengths: Consistent focus on IP issues with a partner-centric approach; infringement litigation around pharma patents.

Practice areas: Extensive advice on trademark, design and competition law. Focus on patent infringement litigation in the pharmaceutical and mechanical engineering sectors. Also advises the tourism and automotive sectors. Also trademark administration (almost 900 trademarks).

Often recommended: Max Mosing

Often recommended: Alexander Schnider (“knows the games industry like no other lawyer in Austria”, client).

Often recommended: Constantin Kletzer (“first choice in copyright law in terms of expertise”, competitor); in patent law, partners Constantin Kletzer and […] have earned an excellent reputation for their litigation work.

Leading names in IP: Rainer Schultes for patent law.

Often recommended: Rainer Schultes; in patent law, partners […] and Rainer Schultes have earned an excellent reputation for their litigation representation.

Often recommended: Juliane Messner

Trailblazer GEISTWERT is hailed as “a ground-breaking firm that has changed the face of the market. There is no other comparable set-up, where five innovative partners are all stars in the IP field”. “The firm works on a partner level, which gives clients utmost confidence in its super-clear results. Its response times are ultra-quick and its entrepreneurship allows the team to fully see and understand each company’s commercial goals.”

Contentious firepower is provided in abundance by Alexander Schnider, […]. A “master strategist and logical thinker”, Schnider is “the ace up your sleeve when you need legal advice that is crucial to your business operations. The great thing about Alex is that there are no problems for him – only solutions. He sees right through the white noise and cuts to heart of any issue”.

The “top-tier” Schultes has “profound knowledge of case law and very good technical understanding, and is extremely well prepared for each case – he dives straight to the point and never strays away from the subject matter”.

Contentious firepower is provided in abundance by […] Constantin Kletzer. Kletzer is also highly recommended: “Quick, sharp and efficient, he is a top choice.”

Commercialisation specialist Juliane Messner “is an outstanding negotiator, an extraordinary practitioner and a great team player. Her business knowledge is incredible and she provides advice that hits core issues in a quick turnaround time”.

Another active member in the transactional setting is Max Mosing, “one of Austria’s best deal makers. He is tough and has extremely broad legal knowledge, but stays gracious and calm, even in the most difficult situations”.

Four GEISTWERT partners were individually ranked again in the Austrian „trend“ Ranking (2021), Max Mosing even twice, namely: Max Mosing for Media Law and Data Protection/Privacy Law, Rainer Schultes for (Unfair) Competition Law, Constantin Kletzer for Trademark-, Copyright- and Patent-Law and Julia Messner for her start-up advisory services.

Alexander Schnider awarded “Winner in the category of – Intellectual Property – Austria”

IP, IT and TMT boutique firm GEISTWERT fields five dedicated partners with a strong focus on patent and trade mark litigation, design law and copyright law. In terms of patent litigation, the team is particularly adept at representing clients in the biochemistry, biotech, chemistry and pharmaceutical industries. The group also has notable strength in trade mark portfolio management and makes use of its own legal tech applications to facilitate such projects. Founding partners Constantin Kletzer, Juliane Messner, Max Mosing, Alexander Schnider and Rainer Schultes are the key names. Testimonials: “GEISTWERT is the coolest IP/IT law firm in Austria. With 5 partners handling all matters by themselves, you get a unique think tank and one or more lawyers handling your agendas with great experience, not only from a legal but also from a business perspective. In contrast to firms using (senior) associates, salary partners and other staff who are not entrepreneurs themselves, this is priceless for me.”; “Very nice good and pragmatic people, not very old-fashioned Austrian. Very informal good advice for international clients.”; “Alexander Schnider continues to impress since the day we started working together. Alexander’s most important strength is that he does not only know all the legal details and case law about Austrian IP and IT matters, but more importantly also the video game business as such and therefore, most importantly, also the positions and desires of the stakeholders in the industry and thus also of our contract partners. This is tremendously helpful when negotiating contracts as you simply cannot achieve the best results when you don’t know about the business goals and needs of the companies that are involved in a video game deal.” Constantin Kletzer, Max Mosing and Rainer Schultes are explicitly mentioned as “Leading Individuals” in IP.