Osborne Clarke has added Jan Pot as a partner in Amsterdam, expanding its Dutch dispute resolution practice. The litigator joins from Brinkhof, where he served as head of litigation and brings experience in patent cases before the Dutch Supreme Court.
Focus shifts from IP to general litigation
Pot started his career in 2013 at Brinkhof, a leading Dutch firm for patent disputes. He became a partner there in January 2021 and was admitted to the Supreme Court bar in 2019. This makes him one of the few Dutch lawyers specializing in technology and intellectual property matters before the highest court in the country.
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For several years, Pot acted under the joint brand Vossius & Brinkhof UPC Litigators alongside German attorney firm Vossius & Partner. However, his recent work has shifted toward general litigation rather than a strict focus on intellectual property. He does not specialize exclusively in IP disputes, a distinction he intends to maintain at his new firm.
His practice covers patent litigation, with a focus on pharmaceuticals and telecoms. He also handles class actions under the Dutch WAMCA regime, privacy and competition disputes, and cartel damages claims. At Brinkhof, he was a recommended litigator. He successfully led the Supreme Court case for Cooler Master against Asetek, which dismissed an appeal over computer cooling systems. He also represented Tata Steel alongside partner Rien Broekstra in an EPO opposition against a patent held by ArcelorMittal.
Osborne Clarke remains strongly positioned in national Dutch patent litigation, particularly in the life sciences sector, with partners such as Koen Bijvank, Daan de Lange, Mark Van Gardingen and others acting for generic drug and biosimilar manufacturers as well as innovators such as The Broad Institute, Amgen and Novartis. Brinkhof bundles its UPC activities with Vossius & Partner under the joint brand Vossius & Brinkhof UPC Litigators. Through this cooperation, Brinkhof lawyers have been involved in UPC cases, including proceedings for Arbutus and Genevant against Moderna, BioNTech, and Pfizer.
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Building a pan-European team:
Pot joins Paul Brouwer and Jeroen Bedaux in the Amsterdam dispute resolution practice. He stated that class actions and follow‑on claims are increasingly shaped at the European level. He noted that these cases are complex and impact core business operations. Osborne Clarke offers an international platform with broad expertise in key EU jurisdictions to handle this work.
The firm views the addition as a reinforcement of its European patent litigation offering. This team is currently based in London, where Arty Rajendra and Will James play a prominent role in standard‑essential patent (SEP) cases and pharmaceutical patents. In Belgium, Germany, and France, the firm operates with only small teams in the IP sector.
