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Nokia Nokia
Taking a look at the challenges facing in-house counsel at large telecoms companies in the current climate, here we speak to Clemens-August Heusch, Head of European Litigation at Nokia. Clemens tells Lawyer Monthly about the legal issues he deals with on a regular basis and how legislation can keep up with the rapid pace of technology.
Please give me a little information about your role as in-house counsel of nokia – what does your typical day include?
There is nothing like a typical day. I work a lot together with external lawyers which means that I am travelling quite often to meetings, but also to court hearings or conferences. Our Litigation Team is spread around the world, so we quite often have conference calls early in the morning or late at night.
What are the main legal issues you deal with?
In the Litigation Team, we deal mostly with patent litigation, but also a lot of other areas like cartel claims, damage claims or product liability claims.
What are the main legal challenges facing you as in-house counsel of such a large company as nokia?
The main legal challenge is the different position we have in the various actions. Sometimes we are plaintiff, sometimes defendant. Sometimes we are patentee, sometimes alleged infringer.
How do you navigate them?
By being consistent; we always try to take balanced positions which we stick to no matter which side of the table we are sitting.
technology moves at a fast pace; can legislation keep up do you think?
Yes. Legislation should be broad
enough to be still applicable and useful in our fast-moving technology. Usually case law should adjust the legislation to new challenges. Only if case law comes to its borders, should legislation be adopted.
Have there been any recent legislative/ regulatory changes that have affected your work at nokia? Please explain if so.
Yes, quite a lot. For example, as of last month there are new, higher court and attorney fees in Germany, the new procedural rules for German nullity actions, and last but certainly not least: The Unified Patent Court (UPC). It probably will still take a while until we have our first cases there, but we are of course now already preparing.
OCTOBER 2013