Our International Food & Beverage Group comprises of dedicated lawyers, who combine leading legal expertise with a genuine understanding of the dynamics, issues and opportunities prevalent in the Food and Beverage sector.
Our International Food & Beverage Team advises clients of all parts of the sector, including producers of food, scientific based (biotech) companies, manufacturers of packaging, as well as distributors, supermarkets and specialist retailers with the full range of specialized contentious and non-contentious legal services tailored to businesses active in the Food & Beverage sector.
The Group comprises experienced lawyers in all of our offices across Europe, Asia and the Middle East, all of whom have a detailed understanding of the sector and its challenges, as well as first-rate skills in IP, EU/competition, customs and trade, corporate, commercial, regulatory, advertising, employment, tax, outsourcing and other specialist legal areas.
We work proactively with our clients and provide accurate and practical advice in all the following matters:
- regulatory compliance, health claims and labelling
- patent, trademarks, designs and trade secrets
- commercial contracts
- EU law, including competition and trade/customs law
- international investments, acquisitions and venture capital transactions
- reputation management, product liability and insurance
- tax
Our considerable international reach enables us to deal with multinational projects and issues, as well as to provide advice which allows for local and international laws, policies and business practices. We combine our Food and Beverage experience with our expertise in other relevant legal and business areas and ensure on this way a practical and value-added service to our international clients in relation to all relevant legal issues.
Heads of Group: Ulf Grundmann in Frankfurt and Armand Killan in The Hague.
Recent highlights of work
● We advised Just-Eat Holdings Ltd, an international online takeaway ordering business, in a £8.6 million venture capital investment led by Index Ventures.
● For many years we acted as patent litigators on the forefront of the famous European coffee wars, not only involving coffee pods but also defending the world’s best known high-tech coffee capsules.
● We are regularly advising the world’s largest beverage company The Coca Cola Company Inc in pre-clearance activities on the availability of trademarks as well as in the protection of their famous trademarks (Coca Cola, Fanta etc.) as well as regulatory advice.
● We advised one of the largest spirit companies in the world, Bacardi-Martini, on regulatory/labelling/IP legal issues on its famous Rum Bacardi in 15 different countries.
● We advised the leading European branded fruit beverages producer Eckes-Granini in competition law matters as well as on compliance and competition law matters.
● We represented the Nasdaq–listed grocery manufacturer Kraft Foods in patent related opposition proceedings before the European Patent Office regarding chocolate ingredients and processed cheese.
● We acted in numerous trade mark cases for the multinational consumer goods company Nestlé Limited including cases relating to the following branded products: Shredded Wheat, Polo Mints, Kit Kat and Viennetta.
● We continuously advise Polarbröd AB, one of the largest bakeries in Sweden, with regard to commercial contracts, disputes, regulatory and IP issues.
● We manage the trademark portfolio and brand enforcement for Yum Brands Inc., involving the misuse of Yum's brands in real-world outlets and online.
● We provided Hershey’s, one of the largest chocolate manufacturer in North Americ,a with a cross-jurisdictional advice on food and nutrition labelling for China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore and Taiwan.
● We advise the international producer of energy drinks Monster Energy Company in the management of their trade mark portfolio.
● We advised a French court administrator of Belvedere S.A., one of the largest producer of spirits and beverages worldwide, in Polish secondary insolvency proceedings based on EC Regulation 1346/2000.