Dr. Bertram Huber is currently a Principal of IP*SEVA - Intellectual Property for Sustainable Energy Ventures. As former Senior Vice President of Robert Bosch GmbH, and Head of Corporate IP, he was responsible for the global IP activities of the Bosch Group. He is also serving as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Munich Intellectual Property Law Center (MIPLC). Apart from clean energy, his focus is on IP strategy and management on a global scale, technology collaboration, licensing and patent commercialization.

Dr. Huber was the Past President of LES (Licensing Executives Society) Germany and GRUR - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gewerblichen Rechtsschutz und Urheberrecht (German Association for Intellectual Property and Copyright), and continues to be an active member of several IP organizations and industry associations.

Who: Dr. Bertram Huber (Principal, IP*SEVA - Intellectual Property for Sustainable Energy Ventures; Former Senior Vice President and Head of Corporate IP of Robert Bosch GmbH)
What: "Intellectual Property and Climate Change Mitigation"
When: April 29, 2013 from 6-7 PM
Where: Marstallplatz 1, Room E10

Faculty members, MPI scholars, MIPLC, IMPRS-CI & MCIER students and all other Institute members are invited.

For more information about Dr. Bertram Huber please visit http://ipseva.com/principals/bertram-huber/

Carlos Härtel has been Managing Director of GE’s European Research Center since 2007, having served as manager of the laboratory for renewable energy at the center since its foundation in 2003. In his position, he oversees the research and development activities of about 200 scientists and engineers working on a variety of topics ranging from medical imaging and micro-mechanical systems to turbomachinery, power conversion, engine technologies and manufacturing systems.

Who: Dr. Carlos Härtel (Managing Director of GE Global Research Europe)
What: "Research in Partnership: Open Innovation and the Role of IPRs"
When: December 3, 2012 from 6-7 PM
Where: Marstallplatz 1, Room E10

Dr. Goose is responsible for all aspects of the innovation process: scouting for innovative and disruptive technologies from universities, inventors, and startups; running projects to validate the technical and business merit of such technologies; if successful, transferring the technology, intellectual property, and partnerships to the relevant Siemens businesses for commercialization.

Who: Mr. Stuart Goose, Ph.D. (Director of Venture Technology at Siemens Technology-To-Business (TTB) Centers)
What: "Siemens Technology-To-Business: Our Flavour of Open Innovation and Aspects of Intellectual Property"
When: October 30, 2012 from 6-7 PM
Where: Marstallplatz 1, Room E10

Dr. Frank Mueller-Langer, senior research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition Law and academic coordinator of the International Max Planck Research School for Competition and Innovation (IMPRS-CI), has been awarded the "RERCI Best Paper Prize 2011". The economist and his co-author Marc Scheufen from the Hamburg Institute of Law and Economics received the award for their paper "The Google Book Search Settlement: A Law and Economics Analysis".

In December of 2004, Google launched its "Google Books" project, formerly "Google Books Search", with the goal of digitalizing books to make their content electronically searchable worldwide. Google's intention to scan some content for this project without the advance permission of the right holders has triggered ongoing heated debate. One of the issues Mueller-Langer and his co-author discuss in their legal-economic analysis is how "Google Books" might solve the dilemma of orphan works.

The "RERCI Best Paper Prize" is awarded by the Editorial Board of the Society of Economic Research on Copyright Issues (SERCI). The organization presents the prize annually to the best article published in the Review of Economic Research on Copyright Issues. The honor, which was announced at the SERCI annual conference dinner in Washington, D.C., includes a monetary prize of 1,500 euros.

Dr. Mueller-Langer has degrees in economics and business administration. He has been working at the MPI since October of 2008. Currently he is researching issues of open access to academic publications and data bases.

The article is available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1775678.

Mr. Christof Wolpert is Senior Patent Counsel at adidas and is responsible for all patent and design registration related registritations, litigations, consultancy of the adidas Group globally. His team comprises patent counsels in different locations of the world, brand protection managers and paralegals and IP assistants.

Who: Mr. Christof Wolpert (Senior Patent Counsel at adidas Group)
What: "Play to Win - IP Strategies for a Fast Moving Consumer Goods Industry"
When: July 10, 2012 from 6-7 PM
Where: Marstallplatz 1, Room E09

Julia Pike was active with the European Generic Medicines Association and, in 2008, co-authored an important report entitled “Patent-Related Barriers to Market Entry for Generic Medicines in the European Union”. In 2009, she joined Sandoz GmbH (the generic subsidiary of Novartis) as the European Public Affairs Director and since 2010 she is the Head of Global IP Litigation at Sandoz.

Who: Julia Pike (Sandoz)
What: “Pharmaceutical Patent Litigation: Implications for Competition & Innovation”
When: May 22, 2012 from 6-7 PM
Where: Marstallplatz 1, Room E10

Claus von Riegen is vice president industry standards and open source at SAP AG. In this role, he is responsible for SAP’s open standards and open source strategy across the complete product lifecycle. Mr. von Riegen drove the change at SAP to adopt a systematic, value-driven approach towards open source software. As a prior member of the OASIS Board of Directors and the W3C Advisory Board, he helped defining the standardization approach in the software industry.
Before focusing on standards and open source, Mr. von Riegen worked on various projects in SAP's business application development. His assignments ranged from data, object and workflow modeling to the design of interfaces and distributed applications.

Who: Mr. Claus von Riegen
What: "Managing Multi-Source Software Development at SAP”
When: April 18, 2012 from 6-7 PM
Where: Marstallplatz 1, Room E10

With Airbus as its largest business unit, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) is a leading pan-European aerospace and defence corporation. Due to its multi-national organization and activities in high-technology industries, EADS is considered to be a forerunner in successful IP management.
Before joining EADS in 2004 Wulf Hoeflich, patent attorney by training, has worked in IP departments of several other companies, such as Knorr-Bremse, MTU and GM Europe. As EADS' Head of Intellectual Property, Mr. Hoeflich also leads the EADS Technology Licensing initiative, a prime example of a successful licensing strategy. In his presentation, he will share his experience regarding benefits and challenges of technology licensing.

Who: Wulf Hoeflich, Head of Intellectual Property
What: "Technology Licensing at EADS - The Business around Patents" (30 min) and Q & A (30 min)
When:  March 22, 2012 from 6-7 PM
Where: Marstallplatz 1, Room E09

Starting his career in IBM's R&D division and Battelle Institute (Geneva), Mr. Teufel held the position of Manager of IBM's IP Liaison (Munich) and Assistant Counsel of IBM's IP department (Florida). From 1990 to 2005 he served as the Head of Patents and Copyrights, IBM Deutschland GmbH. Since 2006 he has been working with Bardehle Pagenberg (Munich). Based on his professional association with IBM spanning 37 years and his involvement in German and international IP organizations, Fritz Teufel has gained an international reputation as a renowned expert for intellectual property in IT related inventions.

Who: Fritz Teufel (Bardehle Pagenberg)
What: "Open Source and Software Patents: A Contradiction?"
When: February 28, 2012 from 6-7 PM
Where: Marstallplatz 1, Room E10

In 2011, Dr. Frank Müller-Langer was awarded the "Innovation, Intellectual Property and Competition Policy" Grant by the Tilburg Law and Economics Center (TILEC) for his research on the optimal management of academic journals (with Professor Richard Watt, University of Canterbury, New Zealand). The total amount of the awarded grant is 15.000 Euro.

Prior to qualifying as a lawyer, Dr. Riemer attained a master’s degree in history from the University of Bielefeld and a Ph.D. in legal history from the University of Frankfurt am Main in combination with the Max Planck Institute for Legal History. After his legal qualification he worked for some time in London with an international law firm and, since 2007, has worked in the legal department of GEMA, Germany's premier collecting society. In May 2011 he became the Deputy Head of this department.

The organizing team of IMPRS-CI students managed to invite Dr. Jochen Volkmer, director of BMW's legal department for Trademarks, Designs and IP for their third [IP]² seminar. The title of Dr. Volkmer's presentation on November 30 at the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition Law was "Creating, Managing and Policing BMW Group Trademarks."

Who: Dr. Jochen Volkmer, Director of BMW's legal department for Trademarks, Designs and IP
What: "Creating, Managing and Policing BMW Group Trademarks"
When: November 30, 2011
Where: Marstallplatz 1

The second seminar of the IMPRS-CI student-led initiative [IP]² - Intellectual Property in Practice took place on October 19 at the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition Law. The invited speaker was Mr. Florian Müller (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florian_M%C3%BCller), former activist against software patents in the EU and currently analyst of IP disputes in the telecommunications sector. Mr. Müller is additionally the founder of the well-known FOSS Patents blog (http://fosspatents.blogspot.com/).

Who: Mr. Florian Müller, analyst of IP disputes in the telecommunications sector
What: "Intellectual Property Litigation and Licensing in the Mobile Devices Industry"
When: October 19, 2011 from 3-4 PM
Where: Marstallplatz 1, Room E10

The first [IP]² seminar was successfully held on the 28th of June 2010. The invited speaker was Prof. Dr. Wurzer. He is the director of the Institute for Intellectual Property Management at the Steinbeis University in Berlin and also a managing director of Wurzer & Kollegen GmbH, a corporation for strategic management of property rights and technologies. Prof. Dr. Wurzer spoke on the issue of standardizing patent valuation methods. He outlined some of the theoretical difficulties involved in this task. He also described some of the practical barriers to standardization caused by strategic interactions of companies. After the presentation there were 40 minutes for discussion. In this time Prof. Dr. Wurzer answered questions on how academics could be doing more in this area to help solving the current practical and theoretical problems.

Who: Prof. Dr. Alexander Wurzer, director of the Institute for Intellectual Property Management at the Steinbeis University in Berlin and also a managing director of Wurzer & Kollegen GmbH
What: “Standardization Procedures and the Practice of Patent Valuation - A Look behind the Curtains"
When: June 28, 2011
Where: Marstallplatz 1

IMPRS-CI PhD Candidate Patrick Andreoli-Versbach cited in the "Handelsblatt" on collusion through delayed pricing

Proposals have been promulgated for a reform of the TRIPS Agreement from a public interest perspective as a result of a joint project conducted by the Max-Planck-Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition Law and the Institute for Intellectual Property and Market Law at the University of Stockholm.

[IP]² - Intellectual Property in Practice - was founded as a new student initiative of PhD candidates at the IMPRS-CI with the objective of furthering the intellectual property dialogue between industry, politics, society and academia.

Prof. Gupta is Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Member of the Indian National Innovation Council, Chaired by Adviser to Prime Minister, Visiting Professor of Innovation Management in Emerging Markets at the European Business School, Berlin Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Fellow of The World Academy of Art and Science, California 2001.

Professor Dr. Thomas Ackermann has recently joined the IMPRS-CI. He has been on the Faculty of Law of the Ludwig Maximilians University since 2009. Professor Dr. Thomas Ackermann brings remarkable talent and expertise in the area of German, European, and international economic law and in particular competition law.

In January 2009, Prof. Reto. M. Hilty was awarded the title of a Honorary Professor at Xiamen University, Xiamen, P.R. China. On 18 August 2009, Prof. Reto. M. Hilty was named Consultant Professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, P.R. China.

Richard Watt is Associate Professor at the University of Canterbury. He works primarily in the area of applied microeconomic theory. In particular, he specialises in the economics of copyright and the economic theory of insurance. He is currently the General Secretary of the Society for Economic Research on Copyright Issues (SERCI) and the President of the European Group of Risk and Insurance Economists (EGRIE).

A selection of students of the IMPRS-CI participated in the seminar "Antitrust Law and Economics" held by Prof. Rubinfeld, one of the most renowned scholars in the field of Law & Economics. In the pleasant surroundings of Gerzensee the application of economic arguments in important antitrust cases was discussed. Due to the lively teaching style and the great expertise of Prof. Rubinfeld the seminar was perceived as very valuable by the students.

The “International Max Planck Research School Competition and Innovation” (IMPRS-CI) has just chosen eight students out of more than 120 applicants for the second intake of its doctoral programme. As in the previous year, four students with legal and four students with economic background will start their doctoral studies in October 2009. While a high percentage of applicants could be recruited from renowned U.S. Law Schools and European Law and Economics programmes, there were also some excellent students of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich (LMU) that made their way through the fierce competition.

IMPRS-CI First 100 Days successfully completed. See press release (in German) for more details:

In an inauguration ceremony on October 20, 2008 the International Max Planck Research School for Competition and Innovation was officially opened in attendence of the director of the IMPRS-CI, Prof. Reto M. Hilty, and faculty members of the collaborating research.

Professor Dr. Thomas Hess joined the IMPRS-CI on September 22, 2008. He has been on the faculty of the Munich School of Management at the Ludwig Maximilians University since 2001 where he has also been appointed director of the Institute for Information Systems and New Media. Professor Dr. Thomas Hess brings remarkable talent and expertise in the areas of digital media management, software economics, new management systems, media management, and the fundamentals of information system research.

IP Enforcement: A Comparison of Chinese and German Experiences" constitutes the overall topic of the 2nd Sino-German IP Conference that will take place at the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law from October 15-17, 2008. The conference will focus on the legal and economic analysis of enforcement in the software industry, in music markets, in the pharmaceutical industry, and in the automotive industry.

The 2008 conference is organized by the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law and sponsored by the Sino-German Center for Research Promotion. The conference is closed to invited participants.

Can one size fit all?" constitutes the overall topic of the next ATRIP conference that is about to take place in Munich from July 21-23, 2008. The conference will explore the grounds, structure and dynamics of the complex body of intellectual property rules that academicy deal with in teaching and research.

The 2008 congress will be organised in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law (MPI), and with the assistance of the European Patent Office (EPO). The congress venue is situated in the very heart of the city, in Munich’s most representative court building.

The IMPRS-CI is currently accepting applications for the first intake of its PhD Programme in October 2008. The deadline is May 16, 2008. Please be referred to the PhD programme announcement for further details

MPRS-CI faculty member Prof. Dietmar Harhoff was listed as one of the 50 most influential people in IP by the fifth annual list of Managing IP. Managing IP issues an annual list of the 50 most influential people in IP including politicians, campaigners, IP owners, in-house counsel, academics and judges.

In April 2007, Prof. Reto. M. Hilty was awarded the title of a Honorary Professor at the Center for Studies of Intellectual Property Rights at the Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, P.R. China. The University thereby both honours Prof. Reto M. Hilty's commitment to the promotion of law and economics in the field of intellectual property law and his strong interest in the reform and development of Chinese intellectual property law.