IP-Seminar 2022
Hands-on Workshop for Scientist in Life Sciences
November 7-8, 2022, Seminarhotel Schloss Gerzensee
Teaching Body
Prof. Dr. Heinz Müller, Lecturer for Intellectual Properties in Life Sciences, University of Basel and sitem-insel, Bern
Heinz Müller is Professor emeritus for medical biochemistry at the University of Basel and was Patent Expert at the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property in Bern. He was educated as a biochemist at the ETH Zurich, where he also received his PhD in 1983. He was then setting up a research lab at the Department of Hematology at the University Hospital Zurich. In 1985, he moved to the US to work for several years at different research institutions in San Diego (Veterans Administration Hospital San Diego and UCSD, Scripps Research Institute) and Chicago (Northwestern University). In 1991 he returned to Switzerland to work as a principal investigator in breast cancer research at the University of Basel. From this university, he received his Venia docendi and the title of a professor. In 2002, he started working in the patent department of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property in Bern while remaining a regular lecturer in biochemistry at the medical faculty of the University of Basel. At the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property, he is responsible for training and continuous education at the patent department and the interaction with Swiss universities. He also teaches intellectual property law at different Swiss universities, including the Universities of Basel, Bern and ETH Zurich. This courses are aimed in particular for life science graduate students and students for medical technology. He also has written extensively on a number of pertinent articles for newspapers, magazines and other publications on the topic of intellectual property.
Dr. Massimo Gianotti, Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property
Massimo Gianotti studied Chemistry at the University of Bologna (Italy) and continued with a PhD is Chemical Sciences at the same University. In 2003, he moved to pharma industry and he joined GlaxoSmithKline (then APTUIT) in Verona working first as Medicinal Chemist then as Principal Scientist with main therapeutic focus in the central nervous system (CNS) such as depression/anxiety and sleep disorders. In 2014 he moved to Switzerland where he started his career in the IP domain, first with Biotech Company AC Immune, then with IPP Intellectual Property Partners law firm and biopharmaceutical group Debiopharm. Since 2021 he is employed in the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property as Patentexperte.
Massimo is also a European Patent Attorney having sat and passed the EQE in 2021.
Dr. Michael A. Kock, Dr. Kock Consulting (Switzerland)
Dr.rer.nat, Dr.jur. Michael A. Kock works at the interface between innovation, technology acceptance, and intellectual property for more than 25 years. After two decades in leadership positions in multinational companies (BASF and Syngenta), he now works as a consultant and “IP Architect” supporting companies in designing and implementing holistic IP, freedom-to-operate, and value capture strategies. With degrees in chemistry, molecular biology, and law, and as a qualified European and Swiss Patent Attorney, Michael Kock regularly lectures and has published multiple papers on plant related intellectual property in peer reviewed law journals.
Dr. Alfred Köpf, ETH Zurich
Dr. Alfred Köpf studied Biology at the University of Bayreuth, Germany and wrote his Diploma Thesis on the Chemical Ecology of Anthraquinones in leaf beetles. He joined the Masters Program in Entomology/Agriculture at the Kansas State University as a Fulbright scholar and came to the ETH Zürich for his PhD thesis on molecular evolution. Before he started his academic career, Alfred Köpf worked as a CNC-lathe-worker and gained thereby practical experience in mechanical engineering.
In his work as a Swiss and European Patent Attorney, Dr. Alfred Köpf is focusing on biotechnology, organic chemistry, medical technology, process technology and mechanics.
Since 2003 Dr. Alfred Köpf is lecturing on patents at the Department of Chemistry and applied Biosciences (D-CHAB) of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zürich. In 2011, he was elected by the Swiss Parliament to become a non-permanent judge of the newly established Swiss Federal Patent Court.
Dr. Christian Moser, Swiss Federal Institute of Intellecual Property
Christian Moser is a patent expert in life sciences and working at the IPI since 2014. Besides his activity as a professional patent researcher and examiner, he is also involved in IPI’s efforts to promote IP awareness in Switzerland. In order to support Swiss start-ups and SMEs with relevant information about IP, he is in regular contact with universities, with various regional and national agencies promoting innovation, and with industry associations. Christian Moser is a trained veterinarian with a PhD in molecular virology. After his education at the University of Bern, and a postdoc at the University of Pennsylvania, he spent more than a decade in the Swiss vaccine industry in various scientific and management roles.
Dr. Beat Rauber, F.Hoffmann-La Roche AG Basel (Switzerland)
Beat Rauber is a Chemical Engineer by training. He joined the Patent Department of Lonza AG 1983 as a patent agent; he qualified as European Patent Attorney in 1991 and was appointed Head of Patent Department 1994. Beat joined Roche in 1999 and in 2001 took over responsibility for the virology and infectious diseases section. In 2008, he was appointed Global Quality Manager of Group Patents that involves overseeing group patents activities from a risk perspective and setting and controlling adequate KPI’s. Beat is still filing and prosecuting patents in the field of Chemical Technology and Process Chemistry. Beat served for almost 30 years as a tutor for CEIPI (Center for Intellectual Property) and in that role trained numerous patent attorney trainees. In addition, Beat is member of the Board of the Swiss Group of AIPPI (International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property).
Dr. Mark Schweizer, Swiss Federal Patent Court
Judge Schweizer is President of the Swiss Federal Patent Court. Until the end of 2017, he worked for a leading law firm in Zurich, recognized as a leading practitioner in patent law by Who’s Who Legal. From 2005 to 2007, he served as a delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Afghanistan and Uganda. Judge Schweizer is a senior lecturer (Privatdozent) for legal theory, legal sociology and civil procedure at University of St. Gallen and lectures in intellectual property law at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland. He is co-editor, together with Professor Herbert Zech (Humboldt University, Berlin), of a one-volume commentary on the Swiss Patent Act. Judge Schweizer holds a Doctorate of Law (Dr. iur.) from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor, where he obtained a Master of Laws (LL.M.).
https//:markschweizer.ch
Dr. Jonathan Thwaite, Basilea Tharmaceutica Ltd. (Switzerland)
Jonathan Thwaite trained as a patent attorney in private practice in the UK, moved to Switzerland to work for Syngenta as a European patent attorney in the crop protection team in 2008 and then moved to Basilea Pharmacuetica as head of IP in 2014. Jonathan is a qualified European and UK patent attorney and has a Master degree in chemistry from Oxford University, a PhD in biochemistry from Cambridge University and an MBA from the University of St. Gallen.
Dr. Anna Maria Villa, Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (2021)
A.M. Villa holds a degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology, a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry and an MA degree in adult education. She is furthermore a Qualified Patent Information Professional (QPIP). Before joining the EPO, she cooperated with pharma industries in the Milan area and headed a Molecular Modelling Research Unit at the Milan University (Faculty of Pharmacy) for six years. She started work at the EPO in 1997 as a patent examiner in the area of second medical use, in galenics and cosmetics. In addition to search, examination and opposition work, she acquired extensive experience as a trainer and coach for newcomers and colleagues changing technical fields. She has been active in international co-operation and exchange programmes and in distance learning programmes implemented by the European Patent Academy. After two years as a Senior Consultant and Director Business Development Pharma and Life Sciences at PatentSight GmbH, in 2018 she started at the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property in Berna as a Patent Expert and coordinator of the Patent Analytics Team. In spite of the mutually enriching and pleasant cooperation, for family reasons in autumn 2021 she left the IPI.
Dr. Bernhard Volken, Attorney-at-law, Partner at Troller Hitz Troller, Berne
Bernard Volken is a partner at Troller Hitz Troller, a Swiss IP boutique established in 1941. For the past 28 years he has specialised in providing a full range of IP strategies (patent, TM, design, copy right, unfair competition law, including litigation). From 1994 to 2000 he worked at the Swiss Trademark Office in the legal department of the patent division and as head of Trademark Oppositions. Bernard regularly speaks at IP seminars and frequently publishes IP books and articles. He acts as an expert speaker on the protection of designs and trademarks for World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) and teaches IP at Tongji University in Shanghai.