The-best-solution-by-system

Legal services

Our law firm provides strategic advice on all aspects of patent law, trademark law and design law worldwide.

We systematically support you throughout your entire product development process with regular monitoring and analysis of third-party patents as well as with searches, expert opinions, the filing of patent applications and their enforcement and defense against competitors.

Our patent attorneys represent you before the respective patent offices, the Federal Patent Court as well as the Federal Supreme Court and also accompany your proceedings before the regional and higher regional courts.

As a law firm in the premium segment, we follow the highest quality standards. This is the guarantee for our exceptional track record.

Electrical engineering / biotechnology / mechanical engineering

We have broad expertise in many technical and scientific fields, especially at the interface to digitalization, automation and artificial intelligence (AI). Key areas of expertise include:

Electrical engineering with specialization in

  • control engineering and
  • communication technology,

biotechnology with specialization in

  • upstream processes and
  • downstream processes

as well as mechanical engineering with specialization in

  • mechatronics and
  • drive systems and components.

System combining law firm and TechCenter

The law firm and the TechCenter form the two pillars of our system.

The TechCenter is composed of specially qualified, industry oriented patent engineers who provide the experienced patent attorneys of the law firm with a comprehensive technical and practical knowledge base.

Based on this, our patent attorneys can fully utilize their legal expertise. The interaction of engineers and patent attorneys can make all the difference, especially in patent litigation.

State-of-the-art software tools are used in almost every step of our work, so that the acquisition and processing of all relevant data is always carried out at the highest technical level.

Dispute management

Every dispute begins with the consideration of whether to pursue a judicial or extrajudicial and whether to pursue an aggressive or defensive strategy. In this process, we advise you on company-strategic, procedural and financial aspects. Often, the synchronization with parallel validity proceedings such as opposition or nullity proceedings must also be taken into account.

The successful implementation of a legal dispute ultimately stands or falls with the formation of a powerful team consisting of our patent attorneys and external attorneys-at-law.

Patent infringement proceedings

Success in legal infringement proceedings means efficient teamwork with a complete knowledge base.

Therefore, we provide our TechCenter of specially qualified patent engineers to the participating team of attorneys. They systematically determine the technical relationships, taking into account the general technical knowledge, research the prior art and prepare all information in an easily understandable and court-presentable form.

The effective interaction of patent attorneys and attorneys-at-law with the patent engineers from the TechCenter is unique and has proven to be particularly effective in practice.

Design-arounds

On the liability side of a dispute, the question of the necessity of design-arounds always arises.

The very conception of a theoretically possible design-around can be a strategically effective measure to steal the attacker's thunder and to strengthen one's own negotiating position.

Our team of patent attorneys and patent engineers at the TechCenter has many years of experience, especially in the conception and legal evaluation of design-arounds.

Development support

We support you right from the start in your development decisions with regard to the patent situation. In doing so, we identify risks of infringement at an early stage and identify well-known and freely usable solutions in order to avoid unnecessary iterations.

We use the knowledge gained in this process to strategically build and manage your patent portfolio. The industry oriented working concept of the TechCenter results in an optimal interface to your business processes.

Patent application procedure

In the application procedures for technical inventions, complex technical issues are brought to the point through our systematic working methods:

Every invention is prepared by the TechCenter in its complete technical depth. This applies to the technical environment of the invention as well as to all invention-relevant technical details.

The law firm will transform this detailed technical information into a robust patent structure.

The implementation is tailored to your competitive environment and takes into account the case-relevant, supreme court jurisdiction.

Validity proceedings

The parallel interaction of legal and technical competences is fully exploited in the adversarial validity proceedings as opposition and nullity proceedings:

The law firm can concentrate fully on the legal issues, while at the same time, the TechCenter prepares the technical facts.

This system enables us to pursue both legally and technically demanding proceedings in an efficient and resource-saving manner.

Jan Gottschald
Dr.-Ing., Dipl.-Ing.

Jan Gottschald, born in 1970, studied electrical engineering at the RWTH Aachen University, Germany, and received his doctorate in 2001 at the WZL (Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering) of the RWTH Aachen University with honors in the field of robotics.

He began his training as a patent attorney in 2001 in a notable patent law firm in Essen, Germany. He completed his training as a German Patent Attorney in 2004 and as a European Patent Attorney in 2005. He then joined the patent law firm in Essen and became a partner.

In 2008, he founded the Gottschald patent law firm, on the basis of which the GOTTSCHALD Patentanwälte Partnerschaft mbB was registered in 2017. In 2023, he received the accreditation as a representative before the Unified Patent Court for the Member States of the European Union.

His fields of activity cover various areas of electrical and mechanical engineering as well as biotechnology. He has broad expertise in technical and scientific fields, in particular at the interface with digitalization and automation and artificial intelligence (AI). Jan Gottschald is particularly active in the field of litigation. Here he accompanies his clients all the way to the German Federal Patent Court and the German Federal Supreme Court.

 

Jérôme Krüger
Dipl.-Ing.

Jérôme Krüger, born 1971, studied mechanical engineering with specialization in energy technology and renewable energies at the Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany. Following his university diploma in 1997, he completed an additional course in Business Law at the University of California in Berkeley, USA.

After completing his training as German Patent Attorney and European Patent Attorney at the same patent law firm in Essen, in which Dr. Jan Gottschald also completed his training, he was a partner in a large patent law firm in Düsseldorf, Germany, from 2003 to 2016.

Jérôme Krüger attends to his clients as a partner of GOTTSCHALD since its foundation in 2017. In 2023, he received the accreditation as a representative before the Unified Patent Court for the Member States of the European Union.

He is active in the fields of mechanical engineering, mechatronics as well as biotechnology and medical technology. He has broad expertise in technical and scientific fields, especially at the interface to digitalization and automation. His strengths are strategic patent applications and efficient application and examination proceedings as well as patent development support based on intellectual property rights.

Niklas Schmidt
M.Sc. Electrical Engineering (Biomedical Engineering)
B.Sc. Economics

Niklas Schmidt, born in 1992, studied electrical engineering at the RWTH Aachen University, Germany, majoring in biomedical engineering. In addition to his Master's degree in electrical engineering, he studied, initially parallel to secondary school, a bachelor of science in economics at the University of Hagen, Germany. He successfully completed both majors in 2017.

He has been working for GOTTSCHALD since 2017. After completing his training as a patent attorney, in the meantime he was admitted as German Patent Attorney and European Patent Attorney. In 2023, he received the accreditation as a representative before the Unified Patent Court for the Member States of the European Union.

Niklas Schmidt attends to his clients as a partner of GOTTSCHALD. His main fields of activity are electrical engineering, control engineering and in particular electric mobility. He has expertise in technical and scientific fields, especially at the interface to mechanics, digitalization and automation as well as artificial intelligence (AI).

Frederik Alfken
Dipl.-Ing.

Frederik Alfken, born 1983, studied mechanical engineering with specialization in manufacturing technology at the RWTH Aachen University, Germany, and the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. He graduated in 2011 at the WZL of the RWTH Aachen University in the field of innovation management.

He began his training as a patent attorney in 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany. He completed his training in 2014 and is now admitted as German Patent Attorney and European Patent Attorney.

After completing his training, in 2015 Frederik Alfken joined the Gottschald patent law firm, which has been the basis for the registration of GOTTSCHALD in 2017. In 2023, he received the accreditation as a representative before the Unified Patent Court for the Member States of the European Union. In addition to classical mechanical engineering, his fields of activity include manufacturing technology and automotive engineering.

Nils Hollmann
Dr. rer. nat., Dipl.-Phys.

Nils Hollmann, born 1980, studied physics at the TU Darmstadt, Germany, and the University of Cologne, Germany. Following his doctorate in Cologne in the field of solid state physics, he worked for several years as a scientific assistant for the Max Planck Society.

He began his training as a patent attorney in 2013 in a large patent law firm in Düsseldorf, Germany. In 2017 he was admitted as European Patent Attorney and in 2018 as German Patent Attorney. Since then, he has continued to work as a patent attorney in the law firm where he was trained.

Since 2019, Nils Hollmann advises clients of GOTTSCHALD, since 2023 also as a representative before the Unified Patent Court for the Member States of the European Union. He primarily works in the fields of electrical engineering, in particular in the field of sensor and measurement technology, as well as mechanical engineering.

Nils Hartmann
M.Sc. Process Engineering
B.Sc. Mechanical Engineering

Nils Hartmann, born in 1992, received his Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and his Master's degree in process engineering from the RWTH Aachen University, Germany. After his studies, he was able to deepen his knowledge in the fields of membrane and medical technology as a research assistant at the DWI - Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials, Germany, where he worked, among other things, on the production of cell-coatable membranes for use in oxygenators. He also worked for the Forschungsgesellschaft Kraftfahrwesen mbH (fka), a cooperation partner of the RWTH Aachen University.

He successfully completed his training as a patent attorney, which he started at the beginning of 2019 in a medium-sized patent law firm in Düsseldorf, in 2022. Nils Hartmann is now admitted as a German Patent Attorney and European Patent Attorney.

He joined GOTTSCHALD in 2022 and was appointed as a representative before the Unified Patent Court for the Member States of the European Union in 2023. His fields of activity focus mainly in the areas of process engineering and in particular biotechnology.

Stephan Menzel
Dr. rer. nat., M.Sc. Molecular and Applied Biotechnology

Stephan Menzel, born in 1986, received his Master's degree in Molecular and Applied Biotechnology at RWTH Aachen University in 2012. During his doctoral studies at the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology in Aachen, he focused on downstream processing, in particular the purification of malaria vaccine candidates and mechanistic modelling of preparative liquid chromatography. He deepened his knowledge in this area and the implementation of chromatographic purification of pharmaceutical proteins during a 2-year career as a scientist at General Electric Healthcare (now Cytiva) in Sweden.

He successfully completed his training as a patent attorney in 2023 in a large Munich law firm and is now admitted as a German Patent Attorney. He will seek admission as a European Patent Attorney in 2025.

He has been working at GOTTSCHALD since 2024. His fields of activity are mainly in bioprocess technology and medical technology, especially at the interface to digitalization and artificial intelligence, as well as in molecular biotechnology.

Biotech team: other team members

Falco Braun
Dipl.-Ind.-Des., certified Pat.-Ing.

Falco Braun, born in 1966, studied industrial design at BUGHS University Wuppertal, Germany. He graduated with honors in 1993 with the title of Industrial Designer.

Through several years of experience as head of the development department of a medium-sized company and later as head of the product management and sales department of an international automotive supplier, he has extensive knowledge of the processes and contents in the entire product development process, as well as the business management experience associated with product marketing and placement.

With his industrial experience, he has been supporting the TechCenter since 2010 in developing industry-specific solutions. Since 2011, he is leading the activities of the TechCenter. In 2012 he completed advanced academic studies to become a certified patent engineer.

Hermann-Josef Frings
Dipl.-Ing. (FH), certified Pat.-Ing.

Hermann-Josef Frings, born in 1966, studied mechanical engineering at the FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences, Germany, in the field of mechanical engineering design and completed his studies in 1994 with the title Graduate Engineer (FH).

He began his professional career as a designer and developer in an industrial sewing technology company. He later became head of development for medical sewing applications. In the course of his time as a developer he was involved in the development of numerous patent relevant technical solutions.

Since then, he has been supporting the TechCenter with his many years of development experience to attend to our clients' developments. In 2016, Hermann-Josef Frings completed advanced academic studies to become a certified patent engineer.

 

Bernd Wessendorf
Dipl.-Ing. (FH), certified Pat.-Ing.

Bernd Wessendorf, born in 1969, studied mechanical engineering at the RWTH Aachen University, Germany, and completed his studies in 2005 at the University of Applied Sciences in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, with the title Graduate Engineer (FH).

Over the years, he has gained extensive experience in patent, trademark and design searches. Bernd Wessendorf specializes in patent searches in Japanese classification.

Since 2008, he has been supporting the TechCenter with patent, trademark and competitor searches, which are individually tailored to the technical and economical aspects of our clients. In 2010 he completed advanced academic studies to become a certified patent engineer.

 

Fabian Döling
Dipl.-Ing., certified Pat.-Ing.

Fabian Döling, born in 1972, studied mechanical engineering at the Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany, majoring in process engineering. As part of an exchange program, he completed one year of his studies at Texas A&M University in College Station, USA.

He began his career as a development engineer for fuel cell systems in the automotive industry. Later, he moved to mechanical and plant engineering for the paper and textile industries, where he held management positions in technology, project planning and project management. Due to his many years of professional experience in various functions and industries, he has extensive experience in product and project development as well as in the handling of processes of internationally operating companies.

Since 2018, he has been supporting the TechCenter in the development of industry-oriented solutions. In 2019 he completed advanced academic studies to become a certified patent engineer.

Biotech team: other team members

Nina Müller
Dr. rer. nat., M.Sc. Molecular and Applied Biotechnology, certified Pat.-Ing.

Nina Müller, born in 1990, studied molecular and applied biotechnology with a focus on process engineering at the RWTH Aachen University. She was awarded the Springorum Memorial Medal for her master's degree, which she completed with honors. She then completed her doctorate at the Chair of Biochemical Engineering at the RWTH Aachen University on the development of a bacterial fermentation process.

After her doctorate, she established a new research group within the chair and held her own teaching position. The focus of her research was on the cultivation of animal cell cultures. Her work was honored with a researcher award by the profile area MSE of the RWTH Aachen University. Her lecture received the teaching award of the student council for biosciences of the RWTH Aachen University.

Since 2021, Nina Müller supports the TechCenter's ongoing projects in the field of bioprocess technology and at the interface to digitalization. In addition, she takes on strategic tasks in the field of bioprocess technology. In 2022 she completed advanced academic studies to become a certified patent engineer.

Biotech team: other team members

Klaus Langhammer
Dipl.-Ing., Dipl.-Wirt.-Ing.

Klaus Langhammer, born 1970, studied electrical engineering and industrial engineering at the RWTH Aachen University, Germany.

He began his career as a project engineer for networks at a medium-sized IT company in Germany. Later, he worked for global IT companies in the areas of solution design, technical planning, and project management. He took over management responsibility of international distributed service teams and was responsible for customers and services.

Due to his wide and long-standing professional experience he has extensive experience in the areas of information and communication technology for global companies.

Since 2022, he has been supporting the TechCenter in the extension of the technical information and communication competencies. Currently he is completing advanced academic studies to become a certified patent engineer.

Thomas Fischöder
Dr. rer. nat., M.Sc. Molecular and Applied Biotechnology

Thomas Fischöder, born in 1985, completed his master's degree in molecular and applied biotechnology with a focus on medical biotechnology at the RWTH Aachen University, Germany. He then completed his doctorate at the RWTH Aachen University at the Institute of Biotechnology in the teaching and research field of biomaterials and at the Helmholtz-Institute for Biomedical Engineering in the field of enzymatic biocatalysis in glycobiotechnology.

After his doctorate, as a project manager in the Scientific Integration Team at the Center for Molecular Transformations (CMT) of the RWTH Aachen University, he accompanied interdisciplinary and industry-related consortia in the acquisition and execution of large-scale scientific projects. In 2020, he passed the certificate examination for project manager (IHK) with very good results and took over the executive management of the CMT the following year.

With his extensive professional experience, Thomas Fischöder supports the TechCenter since 2022 in the field of bioprocess technology and molecular biotechnology, especially at the interface to automation and digitalization. He is currently also completing his advanced academic studies of certified patent engineering.

Biotech-Team: other team members

Angela Gottschald
B.A., C.P.A. (USA)

Angela Gottschald, born in 1970, studied business administration and financial accounting at Gustavus Adolphus College, Minnesota, USA. In 1992 she graduated with a bachelor of arts degree (Finance Diploma) and was subsequently awarded the certificate of Certified Public Accountant (USA).

Since 1992, Angela Gottschald has worked for international companies, such as Cargill Inc. and Accenture Plc, in the areas of project management, project lead, compliance, process monitoring and business consulting. She carried out project work in more than 30 countries.

Her experience is aimed at structuring development processes and supporting our clients' strategy and compliance processes.

Yvonne Neuhaus
Dipl.-Volksw.

Yvonne Neuhaus, born in 1972, studied economics at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University Bonn, Germany, and graduated with a degree in economics in 1998.

After completing her studies, she gained extensive experience in the audit department of a Big-Four auditing firm and in the accounting department of a listed company.

With her many years of experience, she has been supporting both the law firm and the TechCenter since 2015 in all commercial matters, particularly with regard to project management and financial controlling.

 

 

 

 

OUR LOCATION

 

Klaus-Bungert-Straße 1

40468 Düsseldorf - Germany

CONTACT TECHCENTER

Telefon +49 211 58 58 83 91
Telefax +49 211 58 58 83 99

E-Mail info(at)gottschald-tc.de

Imprint

GOTTSCHALD Patentanwälte Partnerschaft mbB

Legal information and disclaimer

If you do not agree with the following regulations governing the website of the GOTTSCHALD Patentanwälte Partnerschaft mbB, hereinafter referred to as GOTTSCHALD Patentanwälte, the permission granted below is automatically cancelled and we ask you not to access any further pages.

All texts which can be found on the web pages of GOTTSCHALD Patentanwälte are for general information purposes only and are neither suitable nor intended to be used as legal information for a specific case. This would require that the advisor be aware of all the circumstances.

No guarantee is given for the accuracy, completeness and up-to-dateness of the information provided. Any liability arising from the use of this information is excluded.

We strongly recommend that you seek legal advice and advice from a lawyer of your choice.

 

We would like to point out that the transmission of an e-mail to our address does not constitute a client relationship. Please also note that neither confidentiality nor actual receipt by the addressee is guaranteed when using e-mail. In any case, a client relationship will only be established if we have confirmed the acceptance of the mandate.

Copyright information and terms of use

All texts of the GOTTSCHALD Patentanwälte web pages and their design are subject to copyright, unless they are free of public access due to statutory exceptions (legal texts and court decisions). This means that reproduction without the express permission of the author is only permissible to the extent that this is necessary for normal use, i.e. the display of the accessed page on a screen. This includes the automatic and temporary buffering in the cache of the browser used. Any reproduction, distribution or editing beyond this requires the prior express consent of the copyright owner.

The exclusive copyright exploitation, distribution and other transferable copyrights are held by the partners of GOTTSCHALD Patentanwälte registered in the Register of Partnerships.

GOTTSCHALD Patentanwälte
Partnerschaft mbB

Klaus-Bungert-Straße 1
40468 Düsseldorf
Germany

Dr.-Ing. Jan Gottschald
German Patent Attorney, European Patent Attorney
Dipl.-Ing. Jérôme Krüger
German Patent Attorney, European Patent Attorney
Niklas Schmidt, M.Sc.
German Patent Attorney, European Patent Attorney

Phone: +49 211 58 58 83 90
Fax: +49 211 58 58 83 99
E-Mail: info(at)gottschald-ip.de

Local Court (Amtsgericht) Essen, Germany PR 3939
Domicile of the company Düsseldorf, Germany
VAT ID DE 311.794.597

The partners of GOTTSCHALD Patentanwälte are responsible within the meaning of press law and § 6 of the German State Treaty on Media Services.

Information according to § 5 TMG (German Telemedia Act) and DL-InfoV

(Ordinance on information obligations for service providers)

GOTTSCHALD Patentanwälte Partnerschaft mbB

The partners of the GOTTSCHALD Patentanwälte Partnerschaft mbB are listed on this website. The partnership is registered in the register of partnerships with the Local Court (Amtsgericht) of Essen, PR 3939 and has its registered office in Düsseldorf, Germany, at the following address:
GOTTSCHALD Patentanwälte
 Partnerschaft mbB


 Klaus-Bungert-Straße 1

40468 Düsseldorf

Germany

Phone: +49 58 58 83 90

Fax: +49 58 58 83 99

E-Mail: info(at)gottschald-ip.de

VAT identification number
DE 311.794.597
Professional indemnity insurance
The professional indemnity insurance is taken out with R+V Allgemeine Versicherung AG, Raiffeisenplatz 1, 65189 Wiesbaden, Germany. The geographical scope of the insurance cover includes activities in the member states of the European Union and thus meets at least the requirements of § 45 PAO (German patent attorney regulations).

Professional regulations

The patent attorneys of GOTTSCHALD Patentanwälte are members of the German Chamber of Patent Attorneys (Patentanwaltskammer).

Patentanwaltskammer

Tal 29

80331 München


Germny
Phone: +49 89 24 22 78 0
Fax: +49 89 24 22 78 24


E-Mail: dpak(at)patentanwalt.de
Internet: www.patentanwalt.de

They are members of the



epi (European Patent Institute)
Körperschaft internationalen öffentlichen Rechts

Bayerstraße 83
80335 München
Telefon: +49 89 24 20 52 0
Telefax: +49 89 24 20 52 20
E-Mail: info(at)patentepi.com

Internet: www.patentepi.com

They are subject to the following professional regulations:

Patent Attorney Code (Patentanwaltsordnung, PAO) of 7 September 1966 (BGBl. I p. 557), as last amended by Article 5 Paragraph 13 of the Act on the Modernisation of the Designs Law and on the Amendment of the Regulations on Notices of Exhibition Protection (Gesetz zur Modernisierung des Geschmacksmustergesetzes sowie zur Änderung der Regelungen über die Bekanntmachungen zum Ausstellungsschutz) of 10 October 2013 (BGBl. I p. 3799)

Patent Attorneys’ Code of Conduct (Berufsordnung der Patentanwälte, BOPA), approved by the Assembly of the Chamber in accordance with § 82 (2) 1 of the Patent Attorney Code on 20. November 2013, entered into force on 1 March 2014 (Mitt. 2014, 53)

Regulation on discipline for professional representatives (Vorschriften in Disziplinarangelegenheiten von zugelassenen Vertretern, ABl. EPA 1978, 91, ABl. EPA 2008, 14; supplement to ABl. EPA 1/2013)

Code of Conduct of the Institute of Professional Representatives before the European Patent Office (Richtlinien des Instituts der beim Europäischen Patentamt zugelassenen Vertreter für die Berufsausübung, ABl. EPA 2003, 523; supplement to ABl. EPA 1/2013)

FFICPI Statutes: (https://www.ficpi.org/_/uploads/gonzo/FICPI-Statutes-2014.pdf)