• Firm
  • Practice Areas
  • Sectors
  • Team
  • International
  • News
August Debouzy
  • Legal notice
  • Training
  • Personal data protection policy
  • Cookies policy

Expertises

  • M&A
  • Private Equity
  • Securities law - Capital markets
  • Restructuring Operations
  • Financing
  • Tax Law
  • Real Estate and Construction
  • IT and Data Protection
  • Patent Law
  • Intellectual Property, Media, and Art Law
  • Competition, Retail and Consumer Law
  • Compliance
  • Dispute Resolution
  • Commercial and International Contracts
  • Employment and Social Security Law
  • Public Law and Public Procurement Law
  • Environmental Law
  • European Law
  • Wealth and Asset Management
  • Projects (Energy & Infrastructure)

Secteurs

  • Aeronautics & Defense
  • Banking - Finance
  • Cybersecurity
  • Energy
  • Industry - Industrial projects
  • Infrastructure
  • Life sciences & Healthcare
  • Luxury - Retail
  • Media
  • Real estate - Construction
  • Sports
  • Tech & Digital
  • Telecoms

Team

  • Our team
  • Join Us

Actualités

  • News
  • Podcasts
  • Events
  • Highlights
  • Insights

International

  • International
  • Firm
  • Practice Areas
  • Sectors
  • Team
  • International
  • News
August Debouzy
  • Legal notice
  • Training
  • Personal data protection policy
  • Cookies policy
  • News ([[posts.total]])
  • Lawyers ([[lawyers.total]])
  • Events ([[events.total]])
  • Practice Areas ([[knowledges.total]])
  • Challenges ([[challenges.total]])
  • In-Focus ([[zoomons.total]])

Download

  • v card
  • pdf

Contact

  • +33 1 45 61 80 72

François Pochart

Partner, European Patent Attorney

François Pochart joined August Debouzy in 2011, after more than 15 years as a patent attorney. Together with Grégoire Desrousseaux and Lionel Martin, he leads a team of engineers and lawyers specialized in patent law. He assists French and foreign clients in all matters relating to patents:

  • Litigation before national courts and the Unified Patent Court, coordination of cross-border patent litigation: infringement, invalidity, trade secrets, unfair competition and parasitism;
  • Opposition proceedings: representation before the EPO and the French PTO (oppositions and appeals), as opponent or patentee, including oral proceedings in Munich or The Hague;
  • Prosecution: drafting of patent applications, assistance with filing and examination procedures ;
  • Consulting: analysis of freedom to operate, infringement, validity, licensing strategies;
  • Contracts: negotiation and drafting, in particular R&D, collaboration, co-development and co-ownership agreements, assignments, licenses, NDA ;
  • Assistance to M&A teams on the intellectual property aspects of M&A operations ;

François is one of France's leading players in patent litigation concerning life sciences, pharmaceuticals and medical devices. His diversified experience (small molecules, biologics, formulas, medical devices, secondary therapeutic applications, etc.), combined with an in-depth knowledge of drug and medical device regulations and close collaboration with August Debouzy's Public and Regulatory team, enables him and his team to handle the most complex matters with great efficiency, particularly on regulatory issues and questions relating to supplementary protection certificates (SPCs).

He contributes to the transmission of knowledge by lecturing on patent law to professional associations, training organizations and universities (including Politecnico di Milano, C5, Life Science Patent Network, MIP). Convinced that sharing experience stimulates individual and collective talent, François and his team also organize patent workshops for their clients.

Practice Area

  • Patent Law


Education

  • University of Paris X, Nanterre, Masters in Law, 1996
  • CEIPI (Patents, Trade Marks and Designs) University of Robert Schumann, Strasbourg, 1993
  • ENSIC Nancy, 1991
  • Ecole Polytechnique, 1986


Admitted to the bar

  • Paris, 2011
  • European patent attorney, 1994


Languages

French I English I German

CHAMBERS AND PARTNERS FRANCE 2025
Intellectual Property : Patents : Band 1
Intellectual Property : Pharma / Life Sciences
: Band 1

CHAMBERS AND PARTNERS GLOBAL 2025
Intellectual Property : Patents : Band 1

WHO'S WHO LEGAL 2023
IP – Patent Agents & Attorneys : Recommended
Life Sciences – Patent Litigation : Recommended

LEGAL 500 EMEA 2024
Intellectual property : Patents : Tier 1
Hall of Fame

Industry focus : Healthcare and life sciences : Tier 2
Leading Individual

IAM PATENT 1000 FRANCE 2024
Litigation : Gold (Tier 1/3)
Prosecution
: Bronze (Tier 3/3
Transactions :
Recommended


MIP - IP STARS 2024
Patent disputes: Tier 1
Patent star

JUVE PATENT 2024
Leading individuals – Lawyers in patent litigation

BEST LAWYERS 2025
(Recognized in Best Lawyers since 2014)
Biotechnology and Life Sciences Practice, Intellectual Property Law, Litigation

DÉCIDEURS STRATÉGIE FINANCE DROIT 2024
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Patent
litigation: leading

HEALTHCARE, PHARMACEUTICALS & BIOTECH
Patents: pharma, biotech, and life sciences litigations: leading

IAM GLOBAL LEADERS 2024




 


 
  • AD Article

    First Unified Patent Court Ruling on Second Medical Use Claims

    On 13 May 2025, the Düsseldorf Local Division of the Unified Patent Court issued a landmark decision on the merits relating to a second medical use claim (Sanofi Biotechnology SAS and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Amgen Inc. et al., 13 May 2025, UPC_CFI_505/2024). The decision follows an infringement action brought by Regeneron and Sanofi, respectively the proprietor and exclusive licensee of European Patent No 3 536 712 ("EP’712"), against various entities of the Amgen group, which subsequently filed a counterclaim for revocation. The claimants argued that the defendants’ product, evolocumab, marketed as Repatha® infringed EP’712.

  • AD Article

    Infringement by equivalence before the preliminary injunction judge: where has the obvioussness gone?

    Is it possible to obtain a preliminary injunction (PI) based only on infringement by equivalence? While a 2017 PI order clearly answered no to this que

  • AD Article

    Recasting the existing EU SPC regulations and introducing a unitary SPC: recent progress and future steps

    La Commission européenne a proposé une réforme des Certificats Complémentaires de Protection (CCP) pour les médicaments, avec un CCP unitaire et une refonte du règlement existant. Le Parlement européen a adopté ces textes le 28 février dernier. L'EUIPO examinera les demandes de CCP, avec des mécanismes de contrôle et de recours. Les textes intègrent la jurisprudence de la CJUE pour assurer la cohérence. Les prochaines étapes incluent des discussions avec le Conseil de l'Union européenne dans le cadre des trilogues. Les élections européennes ne devraient pas interrompre le processus législatif.

  • AD Article

    Number of PCT filings: 1st worldwide decline in 14 years, but France still on the rise

    In anticipation of the forthcoming release of the WIPO 2024 Annual Report, Carsten Fink, Chief Economist at WIPO and Head of the Statistics and Data Analys

  • AD Article

    UPC already in infringement of article 6 ECHR ?

    Is the UPC appeal court so in its youth that it has not yet learned to count up to 5 (at least without the help of its technically qualified judges) ?

  • AD Article

    Saving Strict Liability

    Pour rappel, Gilead avait demandé et obtenu des mesures provisoires en Finlande contre Mylan. Ces mesures provisoires ont été annulées ultérieurement et Mylan a demandé des dommages-intérêts afin d’être dédommagée. Dans ses conclusions du 21 septembre 2023, l’avocat général soutenait que l’article 9, paragraphe 7, de la Directive 2004/48/CE (la « Directive ») doit être interprété en ce sens qu’il s’oppose à une réglementation nationale prévoyant un régime de responsabilité sans faute .

  • AD Article

    Will the Court of Justice Spell the End of the French Strict Liability Regime?

    In the case No C-473/22 between Mylan and Gilead, the Advocate General analysed the Finnish strict liability regime primarily in the light of the lessons a

  • AD Article

    The European Commission publishes proposals for a new pharmaceutical package

    Le 26 avril 2023, la Commission européenne (CE) a publié un ensemble de propositions1 visant à modifier la législation dans le domaine pharmaceutique afin

  • AD Article

    Spring-summer 2024: priority to the Olympics Games at the 3rd chamber of the Paris Court of 1st instance ?

    The 3rd chamber of the Judicial Court of Paris is considering an organization dedicated to the litigation of the Olympic Games, between mid-May and Septemb

  • AD Article

    E-filing of French patent applications: French PTO (INPI) shuffle its feet after messing with PLT

    August & Debouzy wins its proceedings for exceeding its power (ultra vires) before the Conseil d'Etat against the decision of the Director of the

  • More
    Publications

  • Biography
  • Skills
  • Distinctions
  • News
August Debouzy
  • Legal notice
  • Training
  • Personal data protection policy
  • Cookies policy