By Rachel Nechama-Abadi, in collaboration with Cohn, de Vries, Stadler & Co. (CDS), Patent Attorneys of the CDS-LUTHI Intellectual Property Group (Herzog Patents).

Sometimes, in order to preserve one’s professional values, it is necessary to leave even the safest home. For Dr. Ilan Cohn, one of Israel’s most veteran and highly regarded patent attorneys, the departure from Reinhold Cohn, the firm founded by his grandfather and in which he had been one of its leading figures, was based on his understanding of how professional services in the field of intellectual property should be provided.

The young firm he established, Cohn, de Vries, Stadler & Co. (CDS), together with his partners, also among Israel’s leading patent attorneys, David de Vries and Svetlana Stadler, succeeded, within a short period of time and in an almost unprecedented manner, in attracting senior clients and positioning itself at the top of Israel’s professional rankings, as a direct outcome of professional recognition by clients and colleagues in the market.

Alongside the traditional activity of registering and protecting intellectual property assets, CDS promotes the field of patent monetization, that is, transforming patent portfolios of technology companies into income-generating financial assets, including through enforcement strategies and infringement actions abroad. For them, this is not merely a legal activity, but a complementary business layer.

“A patent is not just a certificate meant to be hung on the wall of the boardroom,” Cohn explains. “It is a business tool in every sense, which, beyond its role in protecting the fruits of R&D, can in and of itself generate financial value for its owner. For example, when the R&D reaches a dead end.”

Providing Solutions Across All Types of Technologies

The transition of the three partners to an independent path and the establishment of CDS was not a leap into the unknown. It was a move based on many decades of activity and accumulated personal reputation, as well as a strategic view that professionalism relies first and foremost on the professionals themselves.

“We wanted to do things differently,” Stadler explains, referring to the motivation behind the departure. “The goal was to create a work environment that places emphasis on quality and on focusing on the client and the client’s business needs; one that enables younger partners to be involved in management and in shaping the firm’s future; and, at the same time, one that provides a warm home for employees. My experience, spanning more than three decades, has taught me that the client is looking for the specific expert and for strategic vision – not merely a ‘factory’ that produces patent applications.”

“I am surrounded by expert professionals who are in a league of their own,” Cohn adds. “My partner, David de Vries, is, in my opinion, the number-one expert in Israel in patent drafting in the fields of mechanical engineering and mechanics; there is no one like him in this area. Svetlana Stadler is a brilliant physicist who specializes in today’s most advanced and groundbreaking fields: physics, semiconductors, quantum computing, and AI-based technologies. Her professionalism is a key reason why leading academic institutions in Israel entrust us with their most complex matters. Additional partners from our previous firm joined us as well, seeking to be part of the same excellence, and each of them is a leading professional whose contribution to that excellence is decisive.”

What is the size of the firm’s workforce today?

Cohn: “Today we number approximately 40 people, including 16 patent attorneys with diverse technological backgrounds and two attorneys, operating from our offices in Ramat HaHayal. Although we are a young firm, this structure – with a leading tier of partners whose expertise spans a very broad range of technological fields – enables us to provide solutions for all types of technologies, from defense, cybersecurity, and quantum computing to agriculture and medical devices.”

Beyond the professional aspect, how would you characterize the firm’s organizational culture?

de Vries: “Our culture is built on friendship and on nurturing the next generation. The partnership at CDS is not a rigid hierarchy, but a true partnership. We operate out of mutual friendship and trust, with the understanding that this is the engine for professional growth. It is important to us that the younger generation of patent attorneys grow within an environment that encourages brainstorming and shared commitment, without the barriers of large organizations. At the end of the day, that closeness among us also carries over to the client, who receives a much tighter and more personal service.”

 “We Found a Formula That Works Well”

Approximately two years after establishing CDS, and after the partners had established the new firm, they began creating collaborations with additional players in the Israeli intellectual property space. They joined forces with Luthi & Co., headed by Adv. Richard Luthi, one of Israel’s leading intellectual property litigators. Luthi & Co. is a boutique firm specializing in all areas of IP, with approximately 15 employees, including eight attorneys. Luthi has built an international reputation after representing Israeli and non-Israeli parties in worldwide proceedings in dozens of complex patent, trademark, and copyright cases.

“Richard and I are very close friends, and we had always dreamed of doing things together. With the establishment of CDS, an opportunity was created to do so through the formation of the CDS-LUTHI Group,” Cohn says. “This is a partnership in which CDS handles all aspects of patent drafting, while Luthi & Co. handles the legal side, including litigation and agreements related to intellectual property. This combination enables us to support clients across the full intellectual property lifecycle , from the initial idea to protecting it in court.”

“The next stage in our evolution was forming a strategic alliance with the law firm Herzog Fox & Neeman – one of Israel’s largest and leading firms. The collaboration with Herzog, whose clients include major corporations and multinational companies and which has impressive international professional activity, enables mutual expansion and deepening of the range of professional services offered to clients.”

“We have always had very good relations with Herzog, and together we decided on the strategic partnership under which CDS-LUTHI operates under the ‘Herzog Patents’ brand,” Cohn says.

“We created a unique model that enables us to use their brand, while mutually referring clients,” de Vries adds. “Ultimately, we decided to join forces with Herzog from among the various options available to us on the basis of great mutual professional and personal respect, as well as a compatible organizational culture. The fact that a firm with such a strong reputation allows us to use its name is not something to be taken for granted; it is evidence of the trust and professional esteem it has for us.”

How does this three-part structure work in practice?

“We found a formula that works well,” Cohn explains. “Each of the partner entities maintains its professional identity and independence, while at the same time there is close cooperation based on mutual enrichment and referrals. Herzog is a first-tier firm, and beyond our ability to continue providing our unique professional services on an exclusive basis, our clients now have direct access to a wide range of business legal services provided at the highest level that Herzog knows how to deliver.”

de Vries adds: “We are part of Herzog’s larger home, and there is a good mutual flow of professional work. Their international clients are looking for a firm that knows how to combine proven global capabilities with extensive experience working with startups, and we meet precisely that need.”

Stadler explains: “This connection effectively completes the group’s unique structure: a sharp and professional ‘special forces unit’ of patent attorneys at CDS, a strong litigation arm in the form of Richard Luthi, and the brand and logistical framework of a legal powerhouse such as Herzog. It is a combination that works excellently.”

Leveraging the Economic Value of Patents

The firm leverages the partners’ many years of experience in the field of patent commercialization, or monetization.

“Patent monetization is the process of transforming intellectual property into an income-generating financial asset,” Cohn explains. “The main paths in this process include licensing to other companies, selling the patent, or enforcing the patent against infringers in order to obtain compensation. A proper strategy combines the creation of a high-quality portfolio with active management to maximize value. We do this primarily on a success-based model, and the patent owner is not required to bear any costs during the process.”

“There are quite a few companies and entrepreneurs in the Israeli economy that hold patents of all kinds but do not know what they are worth or how to leverage their economic value,” de Vries elaborates. “We focus especially on companies that have reached a dead end in R&D or business development, changed direction, or unfortunately reached bankruptcy or receivership, and we provide them with the ability to leverage the patents they own and turn them into money.”

Can you give an example of your activity in this field?

de Vries: “Absolutely. One example is a company that held a patent in a field that was no longer central to its business and was considering abandoning it. After we examined the patent, we discovered that it was widely implemented around the world, without the company even being aware of it. We proposed enforcing the patent, worked on filing infringement lawsuits in the United States, and succeeded in generating significant income for the company from an asset it had been about to abandon.”

Cohn: “Another example is a company that holds dozens of patent families and reached the end of its business path. We conducted in-depth searches and found that the patents were being infringed by various products sold by multinational companies, each with hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. We are currently in advanced proceedings with leading U.S. firms to file highly significant lawsuits. There are many more such examples that we have not publicized, for obvious reasons of confidentiality. Clients come to us mainly through word of mouth.”

The partners seek to shake off the image of the patent as a purely legal tool, and instead to view it as a strategic asset with multidimensional potential.

“A patent is not only a means designed to protect a technological development from others,” de Vries emphasizes. “When drafting a patent, one must also think outward. We must ask who else may make use of it, what will happen if it is infringed, or what will become of the asset if the company shuts down. We must examine whether it is of interest to the market and whether it may be relevant to adjacent fields.”

As an example, Stadler presents a technology from the world of optics that could be equally relevant to missile navigation. “The technology is always broader than the specific product, and if we write the patent correctly, we open up a world of possibilities. Companies do not always understand what they have in their hands, and they do not always see the added value of their patents beyond the immediate use. We examine what others can do with this knowledge and how it can be leveraged.”

“It is always important to remember that a good patent strategy is a synthesis of four elements,” patent attorney Svetlana Stadler clarifies. “One must take into account the immediate business need, the anticipated moves of competitors, the legal and technological aspects, and the budget constraints. Only an intelligent combination of all these turns intellectual property into a true strategic asset.”

Defense, Agriculture, and Biotechnology

One of the central fields in which CDS is considered a professional leader is the defense sector. For the firm’s partners, defense technologies have always been an integral part of their professional activity, but the field has expanded very significantly since the outbreak of the most recent war.

“The defense field has always been part of the firm’s DNA, even in its previous incarnation, but it has expanded greatly since the war,” explains David de Vries. “We are witnessing unprecedented growth in new defense companies that have emerged on the ground in groundbreaking areas, from autonomous armored personnel carriers and drones, through radar systems and robotics, to technologies that assist ground forces and complex combat systems.”

“In a reality in which Israeli innovation is required to provide rapid and life-saving solutions, CDS’s support becomes critical,” emphasizes Svetlana Stadler. “The goal is to ensure that these accelerated developments receive strong strategic protection, enabling companies not only to support the immediate operational effort, but also to establish robust intellectual property assets in the global defense market.”

The firm’s extensive defense activity joins a range of additional areas of specialization in which it leads, including agriculture, quantum computing, cybersecurity, biotechnology, and traditional industry. Success in the field is measured not only by patent registrations, but also by the international achievements of the firm’s clients. Only recently, two of the firm’s clients won prestigious awards in the Netherlands – first place for one and second place for the other – thanks to groundbreaking developments in the fields of agriculture and botany, which were protected by patents.

“We are very proud to help develop, strengthen, and preserve Israel’s qualitative edge in the world,” Cohn concludes. “I am a third-generation patent attorney, and I have raised many students on the values of excellence, humanity, and care. I want to continue nurturing the next generation of patent attorneys in the new format we have created; to thereby ensure the business success of our clients and strengthen Israeli innovation – which is the beating heart of the country and its economy.”

Not Only Patents: Social Responsibility and Contribution to the Community

At CDS, contribution to the community is viewed as an integral part of the firm’s professional identity.

“For us, technological excellence must go hand in hand with social responsibility,” the three partners explain.

This commitment is translated into a series of field activities and pro bono initiatives, such as guidance and support for Wheelchairs of Hope, an organization that assists in providing mobility solutions for children with disabilities around the world; fostering young entrepreneurship through Unistream, by helping teenagers from Israel’s social and geographic periphery and providing them with tools from the worlds of entrepreneurship and intellectual property that can open doors for them in the future; and providing a comprehensive package of professional support at no cost to inventors with promising ideas who lack the means, in order to ensure that genuine innovation is not stopped by an economic barrier.

The partners also contribute their experience to the public sphere. For example, Dr. Ilan Cohn chairs two social nonprofit organizations, and David de Vries serves as a board member of IMPACT! / FIDF, a scholarship program

>>Read on TheMarker