Thought Leaders

Michael is a German and European patent and trademark attorney, specialising in life sciences and focusing on his clients’ needs.

Michael is a partner in Bird & Bird’s intellectual property practice, based in Munich. He is also a member of the German executive board.

He advises and represents clients in IP issues in the field of medical chemistry, pharmaceutical, biological, genetic and food technology, as well as medical devices and medical products.

Within the frame of patent and utility model law, Michael specialises in adversarial proceedings, in addition to patent prosecutions. He represents clients before the European and German Patent Offices, the Federal Patent Court and the Federal Supreme Court (in nullity proceedings). He is regularly consulted on infringement proceedings and his expertise also includes the coordination of proceedings across multiple jurisdictions.

Prior to joining Bird & Bird in 2006, Michael worked as a patent attorney in a biopharmaceutical company for several years. During that time, he acquired a special understanding of the needs of the industry in terms of intellectual property law.

Michael studied biology with  a  focus on  biochemistry, chemistry and molecular biology at the Universities of Erlangen and Strasbourg. He received his doctorate degree in virology. After that, he was a team leader at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biochemistry in Martinsried. As a scientist and a patent attorney, he has held lectures at numerous conferences and is the author of several publications.

Michael is a member of FICPI, EPI, EPLIT, UNION-IP and the German Patent Attorney Chamber. He speaks German, English and French.