Automotive & New Mobility
Fit for the mobile future – we help you implement your plans on a sound and stable legal footing.
For many years, we have been advising car manufacturers, importers, certifiers and mobility providers in all areas of commercial law. We know the challenges you face because our industry-focused experts provide highly specialised advice on a daily basis.
Our interdisciplinary practice group has been one of the leading units in the market for years. Our members regularly give lectures and contribute to publications. We work across various disciplines and locations, meaning that you enjoy direct added value from our expertise and experience. We can also provide you with a wide range of services in international projects by involving our established network of partner law firms, who are also recognised as leading practitioners in the automotive and new mobility sector in their own jurisdictions.
Our services
Digitalisation
- Development and distribution of digital products
- Data protection
- Mobility data and its provision
- IT, software and licences
Research and development, intellectual property
- Technology transfer, drafting and negotiating licence agreements
- Drafting and negotiation of R&D contracts and joint ventures, support for funded projects
- Intellectual property in subcontracting agreements
- Development of global IP strategies
- IP portfolio management (trade marks and designs)
- Official and infringement proceedings (patents, trade marks, designs, competition law), FTO analyses
- Advising on the pricing and unfair competition law aspects when planning marketing strategies, advertising campaigns, websites and other marketing channels
- Domains: strategic advice, applications, monitoring and representation in court and domain arbitration proceedings
- Assisting in international IP transactions
Cooperations
- Strategic joint ventures (contractual joint ventures and joint ventures under company law)
- Research and development cooperations (also between competitors)
- Technology cooperations
- Purchasing cooperations
- Distribution cooperations
New mobility
- Assisting in the development, establishment and implementation of mobility strategies
- Electromobility, alternative drives (e.g. hydrogen)
- Construction and operation of charging infrastructure
- Autonomous driving
- Connected cars
- Car-sharing services, ride-hailing and ride-pooling
Product compliance
- Product liability
- Liability for autonomous vehicles and driver assistance systems
- Liability for AI decisions
- Regulatory compliance, product-related environmental law
Litigation
- Disputes under distribution law
- Fines and opposition proceedings
- Administrative disputes
- Competition proceedings, warnings (e.g. in connection with the rules on energy consumption labelling for passenger cars)
- Enforcing claims in mass proceedings and defending clients against them
Government incentives
- Subsidy programmes (innovation premiums, environmental bonuses)
- Tax incentives and state aid (especially for greenfield and brownfield sites)
- Estabishment of new production facilities (e.g. for electric vehicles, battery plant, battery recycling)
Environmental protection
- Regulatory requirements, e.g. German rules on energy consumption labelling for passenger cars, batteries and CO2 fleet limits
- Emissions and quota trading, CO2 pooling
- Sustainability targets and compliance
- Environmental, social and governance (ESG)
Distribution
- Establishment and maintenance of distribution systems
- Transformation and restructuring of distribution systems
- New distribution systems for electromobility and vehicles with alternative drive technologies
- Support for newcomers entering the German and European markets
- Authorised dealers, commercial agents, commission agents, commercial brokers
- Online sales and direct sales
- Distribution of digital products
- Subscription models
- Supply chain disruptions
- Price adjustments
- Assisting in court and out-of-court disputes with dealer associations and individual distributors
Selected projects
- Stellantis
Advising the automaker on the realignment of dealer, service partner and agency agreements for Europe and Germany - SAIC Motors Europe
Assisting the automobile company in setting up a distribution structure and during the launch in Europe of an MG e-car - MOIA
Providing the company with ongoing advice on passenger transport law, successfully representing it in all administrative disputes, assisting in the operational implementation of electric car sharing, including charging infrastructure, and advising on strategic cooperations - Volkswagen AG
Providing the car manufacturer with ongoing advice on distribution and antitrust issues, in particular with regard to the design of an agency system - Peugeot and PSA Automobiles
Representing the vehicle manufacturers in preliminary ruling proceedings before the ECJ to determine the question of whether or not independent economic operators are entitled to access vehicle manufacturers’ repair and maintenance information (RMI), and if so at what price
“The team’s strength lies in its profound knowledge of sector-specific topics that will be crucial going forward and which it gains from the theoretical and strategic planning work it does for clients such as the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action as well as for public bodies such as the National Centre for Charging Infrastructure.”
JUVE 2022Insights
“In terms of the range of advice offered in distribution and franchise law as well as the quality of the mandates, hardly any competitor can match Noerr. [...],when it comes to providing comprehensive advice on innovative digitalisation projects and driving them forward, Noerr is the first port of call for many well-known and globally active companies. This applies in particular to the automotive sector, where the client list reads like a who's who of manufacturers.”
JUVE 2022 Well
informed
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