Germany

Firm overview

Prüfer & Partner mbB is one of Germany’s most renowned IP law firms specializing in IP rights. Prüfer & Partner protects clients’ ideas, inventions and product developments around the world and enforces their claims in court – whether technical inventions or other IP rights. Today, nearly 100 employees – including 24 patent attorneys, attorneys at law and patent specialists – work for this renowned IP boutique.

Prüfer & Partner was founded in 1972 as a pure patent attorneys’ office, which quickly developed into an internationally focused medium-sized law firm specializing in IP law. A successful generation change took place between 1998 and 2002, when Prüfer & Partner was taken over by patent attorneys Dr. Dorothea Hofer, Jürgen Feldmeier and Dr. Andreas Oser. Since then, Prüfer & Partner has grown into a firm of nearly 100 employees. A further milestone was achieved in 2015 with the addition of attorney at law Andreas Jacob as an equity partner and the firm has since entrenched his legal know-how, ensuring future continuity of the patent and legal service.

Prüfer & Partner is an established and highly respected medium-sized law firm with a stable global network of partners, which advises clients registering IP rights, supports clients in all issues relating to IP rights protection, and defends and enforces clients’ IP rights in court.

With Prüfer & Partner, you can expect a strong and carefully selected community of patent attorneys, lawyers and technical specialists. The firm represents its clients’ interests at the highest level. Prüfer & Partner is familiar with the support of complex and demanding mandates and works with great commitment.

Diligence and expertise play an important role in industrial property law protection. Therefore, Prüfer & Partner patent attorneys and lawyers work strictly to German quality standards: thorough, punctual and cost-efficient.

Over the past 10 years, Prüfer & Partner has continuously expanded its expertise in patent and trademark litigation. Dr. Hofer and Mr. Feldmeier have been advising their client Brother Industries for years in a complex patent dispute concerning ink cartridges. Dr. Oser supports the pharmaceutical industry, including assisting Novartis in building up its patent portfolio. Mr. Jacob is not only active in both patent and trademark litigation before German courts, but also assists his clients in international disputes, particularly in China-related cases. Other Prüfer & Partner attorneys, including Christian Einsel, also regularly litigate both active and passive patent lawsuits. In addition, Marion Ziliox works for French and Asian clients, among others, in customs actions at EU borders. As a result, Prüfer & Partner has well-founded expertise in the entire IP field.

Looking to the future, Prüfer & Partner will endeavour to maintain its enduring Japanese business and simultaneously enlarge its China desk by setting up a Chinese hotline for its Chinese-speaking clients and potential clients.

Located in Munich, the German heart of intellectual property, Prüfer & Partner is dedicated to serving its clients as a one-stop-shop IP boutique.

Network Memberships:

epi, INTA, AIPPI, FICPI, EPLIT, VPP, GRUR, DAV, AGEM

SOS-Kinderdorf, Aktion Kinderschutz e.V., Hoffnung für Menschen e.V.

Last updated 10th July 2019

Firm overview

Zacco is a true European full-service consultancy with a 360-degree approach to intellectual property. We are more than 500 IP professionals including over 125 authorised patent attorneys and over 75 authorised Trademark and Design Attorneys and attorneys-at-law covering seven European jurisdictions – EUIPO/EPO, UK, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland. Zacco as a firm and many of our attorneys have achieved top tier rankings and recommendations from Managing Intellectual Property, World Trademark Review, Intellectual Asset Management, and Legal 500 that vouch for the outstanding quality of our services. We are the leading “one single point of contact” for handling European cases. 

Patent, Trademark and Design Prosecution

Through our European offices and the local expertise Zacco cover the following jurisdictions in Europe: EPO, EUIPO, Norway, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark, meaning that you only need one point of contact to handle all your patent prosecution in seven European jurisdictions. Zacco is ranked as a tier-1 firm in several of the mentioned countries, and a considerable number of our attorneys have achieved individual recommendations in well-established IP rankings. 

Thanks to our impressive number of patent attorneys, many of them authorised European Patent Attorneys, Zacco can provide you with an expert for your specific field of technology. You will find a great match for your needs, no matter if you have an invention within chemistry, mechanics or biotech, or in the areas of digitalisation, software and AI.

Generally, our trademark and design practice assists all industries with filing and prosecution, availability and infringement opinions and has a special focus on European trademark and design practice, including oppositions, cancellations and appeals before the EU Intellectual Property Office.

Litigation and Disputes

When in need of experts within IP litigation and dispute matters, we at Zacco can represent our clients ourselves within these jurisdictions: EUIPO/EPO, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Unlike a traditional law firm we are renowned experts on IP, meaning that we have both the legal and the technical expertise in-house to successfully represent your interests.

In contrast to many other IP firms in Scandinavia, Zacco also provides the full range of IP legal services cross border. These services are offered by a cooperation of law firms and lawyers working and sharing offices with Zacco throughout Scandinavia and in Germany.

The legal practice serves all industries with legal advice and assistance in connection with the drafting and negotiation of contracts relating to intellectual property, GDPR and other compliance matters, advertising and e-commerce, litigation, domain name conflict resolution, establishment of customs surveillance and other measures for the prevention or combat of counterfeiting.

Zacco’s lawyers have successfully represented international clients in proceedings before the national courts and the European Court of Justice.

Our Vision – IP 360: The Future of Intellectual Property

Zacco takes care of its clients’ innovation, identity and digital assets. Everything that you literally can’t put your finger on. We protect them, give our clients ownership and make them theirs to keep – now and in the future.

Due to its size, Zacco has specialists in almost all areas of intellectual property. Our service offerings cover the whole range of patent, trademark and design protection and litigation, as well as secure software development, digital brand protection, cybersecurity and portfolio management. 

The world changes, and so do we. Zacco is constantly evolving and adjusting to its surroundings. With a recent broadening of its scope of services, Zacco is focused on meeting the implications and possibilities of digitalisation. This broadening involves applying a 360-degree perspective on intellectual property, including cybersecurity and software. The overall purpose is to guard all intangible assets of Zacco’s clients.

150 years’ experience of innovative thinking

We have a long history as an international IP consultancy dating back to 1870. Through continuous focus on developing and expanding our services and our long-term growth strategy, Zacco has developed into one of Europe’s largest and most experienced IP consulting firms. 

Last updated 16th October 2020

Firm overview

df-mp is one of the top firms in intellectual property law with an international outlook and a broad scope of specialized expertise. Globally oriented companies in such practice areas as biotechnology, chemistry, physics, medical devices, mechanical and electrical engineering and pharmaceuticals trust the competent advice offered by our highly-rated team.

Our know-how in a broad range of cutting-edge technologies as well as in-depth experience in intellectual property law enables us to meet our clients‘ high demands for expert counseling. We offer comprehensive advice on the global protection of intellectual property rights, with an emphasis on Europe and the United States. The firm is notable for its competence in natural sciences and high-tech, multilingualism and intercultural sensitivity.

The df-mp attorneys have considerable experience in obtaining and defending clients’ key patents in proceedings before the European Patent Office and the German Patent and Trademark Office, as well as challenging the patents of third parties in such proceedings. Notable success has also been achieved by the firm in patent infringement proceedings and nullity actions before the German courts. Another recognized specialty of the firm is client counselling on freedom-to-operate and patent validity matters.

Aside from technology-oriented advice, the attorneys of df-mp develop successful strategies on protecting and enforcing trademark and design patents. df-mp’s trademark and design practice offers our clients world-wide filing and prosecution services. Furthermore, our attorneys also actively prosecute and oppose European and German trademarks and designs as well as enforce and defend them against third parties.

Last updated 10th of July 2018

Firm overview

Patent attorneys who want to be successful have to have more than just a good grasp of the law. They must be able to understand, evaluate and define what is to be protected down to the smallest detail. An accurate description of the patent attorneys at Samson & Partner. We are physicists, computer scientists, electrical and mechanical engineers, and chemists. All under one roof, our team has certainly found the right formula to be successful in what we do.

The firm's recipe for success has always been anticipating outcomes. Our vast experience in implementing and litigating patents benefits our clients right from the outset, i.e. during the procurement of intellectual property rights until its enforcement.

Work areas and Services

Samson & Partner's head office is situated in Munich, Germany, in direct proximity to the European Patent Office (EPA) and the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA). We work in all areas of intellectual property law - national, European and world-wide. Our services starts from assessment of protectablility and drafting of patent and utility model applications to procurement of protection rights through the responsible authorities. We defend our clients' patents against attacks by third parties, e.g. against oppositions, nullity and cancelation actions.

Samson & Partner has been and continues to be involved in mayor global patent battles between big international players in these technological fields, both on the offensive as well as on the defensive side. By our characteristic composition and our firm structure we have proven to be well positioned to put up strong teams of patent attorneys to support our clients in these multi-national battles.

Technical focus

The world of the inventions and patents is as various as the technical areas Samson & Partner covers:

• Applied physics (such as semiconductors, supraconductors, laser technology, optics, opto-electronics, sensors, biophysics)
• Information and communication technology (such as software, multimedia, networks, telecommunication, business processes, hardware)
• Electro-technology (such as electronics, integrated circuits, control engineering, feedback technology, electric drives, electro-communication technology)
• Mechanics and process engineering (such as vehicles, aeroplanes, machines, medical technology, weapons, building industry, printing)
• Chemistry and biochemistry

Last updated 12th July 2016