Second AIPPI Young Members Trilateral FR-DE-IT

The Unified Patent Court is rapidly developing its own approach to the quantification of damages for patent infringement. As the Court’s early case law on damages takes shape, it is time to examine how the UPC, while applying its own rules, may nonetheless be influenced by established traditions of its key Member States. The roundtable will explore the Italian, French, and German approaches to damages calculation, and assess how and to what extent they can shape the UPC’s emerging case law. Panelists will discuss topics such as lost profits, moral damages, reasonable royalties, and disgorgement of profits.

Speakers:

• Jean-Baptiste Leca (FR)
  Jean-Baptiste is a French attorney-at-law and UPC Representative with a Ph.D. in pharmaceutical patent law. He co-founded Leca Sevestre Avocats (Paris) and is Chair of the Young Members Committee of the French AIPPI group.
• Federico Manstretta (IT)
  Lawyer at Milan-based boutique IP Law Galli, Federico specializes in IP matters, with focus on patent litigation, know-how and trade secrets. Federico holds a PhD in industrial property and competition law and is author of a 400+ pages volume on the enforcement of Standard Essential Patents. He has collaborated as WIPO’s external experts on various trade secrets related projects, and is co-author of Commentaries on Italian IP Code and UPC Rules of Procedure. He is member of AIPPI Standards and Patents Committee.
• Pierluigi Perrotti (UPC) – Industry Expert
• Carsten Plaga (DE)
  Carsten Plaga is Counsel at the boutique law firm Kather Augenstein in Düsseldorf. Since 2018, he has focused on patent litigation in various technical fields, in particular medical devices, consumer electronics and telecommunication SEPs. Carsten has considerable experience of handling multinational litigation cases before German national courts and the UPC.
• Niels Schuh (DE)
  Niels Schuh is a patent litigator at Meissner Bolte in Duesseldorf. He focuses on representing national and international clients in patent infringement proceedings and inspection proceedings before the UPC and German courts. His practice particularly covers telecommunications, electronics and mechanical engineering. Niels is co-author of a commentary on the UPCA.
• Massimiliano Tiberio (IT) – Moderator
  Massimiliano is a senior lawyer at DLA Piper in Milan. He specializes in patent litigation, assisting Italian and international clients across various industries, with a particular focus on the mechanical and life sciences sectors. He has significant experience in patent proceedings both before Italian Courts and the Unified Patent Court. He is also among the contributors to the first Italian commentary on the Rules of Procedure of the Unified Patent Court.

Driven by the EU pharmaceutical package, antitrust enforcement, and emerging UPC case law, the European life sciences landscape is undergoing significant changes. This panel examines current frontiers across all aspects of the life science industry providing insider knowledge from prosecution, cross-border litigation, and in-house perspectives.

Speakers:

• Alfonso Campanella (IT)
  Alfonso is an IP litigator and IP specialist, with experience in transactional operations. He’s part of the Intellectual Property practice in the Milan office of Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer. Alfonso is mainly focused on domestic and cross-borders litigation related to a wide range of IPRs. In particular, he’s specialized in dealing with patents, SEP, trade secrets, software, copyright protection and unfair competition. He also assists clients in proceedings regarding unfair commercial practices before the Italian Competition Authority. He has worked with clients in several industries, ranging from pharmaceutical and life sciences, design, fashion, telecommunications, consumer products, media and advertising, helping the firm’s clients in protecting and commercialising their innovations across sectors.
• Carl-Alexander Dinges (DE)
  Carl is a German patent litigator and partner at Bonabry. He regularly represents clients in pharma and MedTech patent litigation and has been involved in some of the most recognized pharmaceutical patent litigation procedures in Germany and Europe in the last years, including among others the Teva copaxone complex, the cabazitaxel proceedings at the UPC and the multi-national injunction concerning aflibercept.
• Jeanne Morel-Fourrier (FR)
  Jeanne is an Associate in August Debouzy’s Paris office. She is admitted to the Paris Bar and an UPC Representative, and specialized in patent litigation, particularly before the French Courts and the UPC, as well as in pharmaceutical regulatory matters.
• Anahita Mousavi (DE) – Moderator
  Anahita is Legal Counsel at Roche Diagnostics in Switzerland. Dual-qualified in Germany (Volljuristin) and England & Wales (Solicitor), she provides legal advice on IP, regulatory, and commercial matters across the life sciences and healthcare sectors. Prior to joining Roche, she practised as a litigator at Quinn Emanuel in Germany, focusing on complex cross-border commercial and IP disputes.
• Giovanni Trabucco (IT) – Industry Expert
  Giovanni is a Senior IP Counsel at Meril Life Sciences. He oversees European litigation, prosecution and transactional matters across all areas of IP law, with a particular focus on proceedings before the EPO, the UPC and national courts. He previously practiced law for ten years in the IP department at Hogan Lovells (now Hogan Lovells Cadwalader) in Milan and was seconded to the firm’s Munich and Düsseldorf offices. At Hogan Lovells, Giovanni worked on high-stakes patent and unfair competition cases for clients in the life sciences, telecoms, chemicals and fashion industries. Giovanni graduated in law from the University of Milan. He completed LL.M. programs at the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center (MIPLC) and at Cornell University (Cornell Tech), as a Fulbright scholar. He later obtained a PhD from Bocconi University, with a thesis on the use of AI as a tool for R&D and its impact on European patent law.
• Konstantinos Tsakiliotis (DE)
  Konstantinos advises and represents clients in contentious IP matters, with a particular focus on patents before the UPC and German courts. In the life sciences and medtech sectors, he has acted in landmark UPC proceedings, including Occlutech/LEPU and Cilag/Rivolution, contributing to the developing UPC case law on urgency in PI proceedings. Before joining PENFORCE, Konstantinos worked at a renowned German IP firm, where he gained experience in biotech and pharmaceutical patent litigation and in regulatory developments surrounding the EU Pharmaceutical Package, including the proposed Transferable Exclusivity Voucher (TEV) for novel antimicrobials. He also gained in-house experience at a Swiss multinational healthcare company on pharmaceutical, data and AI-related matters. He has been recognized by Managing IP as a “Rising Star” in Germany within roughly a year after qualification.

Every chair, handbag or lamp can claim design protection, no question there. But call it art, worthy of full copyright, and the picture changes: some countries extend that status readily, others demand real artistic merit before granting it. The difference is far from academic; it shapes how long protection lasts, how broad it runs, and how disputes are won or lost. This panel brings together Italian, French and German perspectives to explore where those lines diverge, unpacks the game-changing CJEU Mio/Konektra ruling of 4 December 2025 and its cross-border consequences, and closes with a practical take on circular economy in fashion from those living it day to day.

Speakers:

• Laura Brandoli (IT) – Moderator
  Laura Brandoli is a counsel at the law firm RPLT in Milan, where she is a trusted advisor on the full spectrum of industrial and intellectual property protection. She assists national and international clients, both in and out of court, on copyright, design, trademarks, know-how and patents, as well as advertising and unfair competition. Her practice also extends to administrative proceedings before the Italian Patent and Trademark Office (UIBM) and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).
• Chen Gu (FR)
  Chen Gu is Senior Associate in the IP & Technology team at Dentons Paris. She advises international clients across the creative, technology, and innovation sectors on the full lifecycle of their European operations. Her practice covers intellectual property protection and portfolio management, R&D and innovation projects, licensing, dispute resolution, and IP enforcement in both online and offline environments, including online brand protection and coordinated actions with customs and law enforcement authorities. With a deep understanding of both Asian and European business cultures, she also supports clients from Asian countries in navigating the European legal and regulatory framework and achieving their strategic objectives in the region.
• Arianna Iacomelli (IT) – Industry Expert
  Arianna Iacomelli is a legal professional specializing in intellectual property law and brand enforcement in the fashion and luxury goods industry. As Head of IP Enforcement Offline at MF Brands Group, the Swiss conglomerate that owns fashion and lifestyle brands such as LACOSTE, GANT, AIGLE, and TECNIFIBRE, she leads an international team in crafting and implementing brand protection strategies across more than 100 countries for all the brands within the group. With previous experience at Furla, she has gained extensive expertise in managing IP portfolios, protecting brands online, and providing legal support for various business transactions. Ms. Iacomelli is admitted to the French bar and holds a double degree in French and Italian law from Sorbonne University in Paris and the University of Florence.
• Michele Papa (IT)
  Michele Papa is a freelance Italian attorney-at-law, admitted to the Milan Bar Association, specializing in intellectual property, art and cultural heritage law, with twelve years’ experience in IP law boutique Italian law firms, such as IPLAWGALLI and Martini Manna Avvocati. He is also a teaching fellow in IP law at the University of Parma and member of the AIPPI Designs Standing Committee as well as of the WIPO ADR Young group. He is a regular contributor for Italian legal reviews, such as Il Diritto Industriale and Il Diritto di Internet. Since 2022 he has been ranked consecutively as “Rising star” by the International legal guide Managing IP (IP STARS). 
• Alexandra Wachtel (DE)
  Dr. Alexandra Wachtel is an attorney at the boutique law firm Preu Bohlig & Partner. Her practice focuses on copyright, design rights, and trademark law and IT-related matters. Her in-depth knowledge in copyright law is rooted in her doctoral thesis and further enforced by publications in the field since then, reflecting her academic and professional engagement with the subject.

This panel will examine the national legislation and case law in France, Germany and Italy addressing the issues arising from the unauthorized use of protected contents by AI, notably press publications. It will focus in particular on whether, and under what conditions, AI systems may rely on the text and data mining (TDM) exception as well as on recent case law distinguishing between model memorization and work-near outputs as separate acts of reproduction.

Speakers:

• Chiara Arena (IT)
  Chiara Arena is an Italian lawyer based in Milan and specialized in copyright enforcement. She is pursuing a PhD research project at the University of Pavia on GenAI training and copyright. She advises and represents international clients of the audiovisual sector with particular focus on antipiracy activities. She is a Young Member of AIPPI Italy and member of the Young AIPPI members Committee (YAC).
• Laure Desquine (FR) – Industry Expert
  Laure Desquine is Legal adviser & Public Affairs Manager for l’Alliance de la Presse d’information Générale. After studying intellectual property law and gaining various experiences in the audiovisual and film industries, she chose to explore the field of press law. She represents the interests of the press publishers association’s members and focuses on issues relating to related rights.
• Serhat Dikme (DE)
  Serhat Dikme is a German Attorney and is an Associate at DTS Patent- und Rechtsanwälte PartmbB in Munich, Germany. Serhat advises and represents clients in matters of IP and competition law. He holds an LL.M. in Intellectual Property Law from Queen Mary University of London and is a Young Member of AIPPI Germany.
• Clara Miolinier (FR) – Moderator
  Clara Molinier is a French attorney and Partner at Duorama law firm in Paris, France. She is a Young Member of AIPPI France. She intervenes in different IP areas and advises clients, particularly in the tech and music sectors, in both contractual and litigation matters with experience in AI law.
• Carlyne Sevestre (FR)
  Carlyne Sevestre is a French attorney and Partner at Leca Sevestre Avocats, law firm in Paris, France. She is a Young Member of AIPPI France. She intervenes in different IP and IT areas, advising on both contracts and disputes, with a particular focus on complex litigation involving IT experts. She has handled matters concerning AI crawling of press publishers’ websites.