Dr. Léon Dijkman
Clients believe that it is “the best IP law firm in the country” and particularly stress: “There is no legal problem in IP that they cannot resolve.”
Chambers & Partners
Senior Associate
Léon practices in all areas of intellectual property law but specializes in patent and trade mark law. He advises and litigates in cross-border patent cases in all areas of technology and also regularly conducts trade mark proceedings before Dutch courts, the EUIPO and the General Court. In 2015, he won the Amsterdam Young Bar Association’s annual pleading contest and finished third in the national competition.
Léon obtained his PhD degree from the European University Insitute in Florence and is assistant professor at the Erasmus School of Law in Rotterdam. He is the author of The Proportionality Test in European Patent Law (Hart 2023), the only English-language monograph on the entitlement to permanent injunctions before European patent courts. Léon regularly publishes in national and international journals and is on the editorial board of a major Dutch IP journal. His work was cited by the advocate-general to the Dutch Supreme Court and was recognized with prizes in national and international competitions.
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REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS
- Nikon v. ASML. Represented ASML in various patent proceedings concerning its lithography machines, in which the court nullified Nikon’s patents
- Carl Zeiss v. VSY. Represented Carl Zeiss in patent proceedings concerning lenses, in which the court issued a cross-border injunctions against VSY
- CRT v. Heineken. Represented CRT in proceedings concerning use of the geographical indication ‘Tequila’, which resulted in Heineken committing to cease use thereof
- Spartan Race v. TERN. Represented TERN in trade mark proceedings concerning use of ‘Spartan X’, which resulted in rejection of infringement claims in two instances
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PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
- Beneluxvereniging voor Merken- en Modellenrecht (BMM)
- Vereniging Intellectueel Eigendomsrecht Procesrecht Advocaten (VIEPA)
- Nederlandse Juristenvereniging (NJV)
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PUBLICATIONS
- Court of Appeal of the Unified Patent Court clarifies conditions for public access to case files – UPC Case Comment
- Unified Patent Court’s Court of Appeal issues first substantial ruling – UPC Case Comment
- The Proportionality Test in European Patent Law (Hart 2023)
- Pairing Sturgeon with Champagne: Towards a Due Cause Exception in the Law of Geographical Indications (2023) 54 IIC – International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law [first prize in the 2023 ATRIP essay competition]
- ‘Of treats and treaties: the forgotten chapter of European Geographical Indications law’ (Book chapter, forthcoming Oxford University Press)
- Netherlands chapter (with Willem Hoyng), in: Husovec & Contreras (eds), Injunctions in Patent Law: Trans-Atlantic Dialogues on Flexibility and Tailoring (Cambridge University Press 2022)
- ‘Does the injunction gap violate implementers’ fair trial rights under the Charter?’ GRUR 2022, 857
- ‘Does the injunction gap violate implementers’ fair trial rights under the ECHR?’ GRUR International 2021, 215
- ‘Property aspects of intellectual property’ European Journal of Legal Studies 2019, 153
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SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
- 2023: ‘The proportionality defence in European patent law’ (GRUR annual conference, Mannheim; acceptance of dissertation prize)
- 2021: ‘Fair trial rights in a bifurcated patent system’ (GRUR annual conference, Bonn)
- 2019: ‘Can patent injunctions be counter-innovative?’ (IP workshop, Paris)
- 2018: ‘Patent law and the internet of things’ (AIPPI Turkey annual conference, Istanbul)
- 2016: ‘Copyright and the internet of things’ (ECTA annual conference, Dubrovnik)
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The Netherlands
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Amstelplein 1
1096 HA Amsterdam
The Netherlands
The facts
Languages
Education
European University Institute (PhD, 2023)
University of California, Berkeley School of Law (LLM, 2013)
Utrecht University (LLM, cum laude, 2012; LLB, honourable mention, 2010)
Utrecht University (BA Literature, cum laude, 2012)