Alumni

The Alumni Association, “Friends and Former Employees of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition”, aims to promote study and research in the Institute’s fields of emphasis.

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Greeting from the Executive Committee

Dear Alumni and Friends of the Institute,

In October 2025, we elected a new Alumni Executive Committee. We look back on a very successful term of the previous Committee, including the reestablishment of our Annual Conference as an in‑person meeting where we discuss important issues in IP and competition law and innovation economics with researchers from the Institute and external experts from around the world. Highlights of the last term were our two annual conferences: in 2024 on SEPs in the UPC and Protecting Competition in AI Innovation, and in 2025 on New Genomic Techniques and their potential and challenges to European innovation and competition.

The new Executive Committee aims to continue this tradition and build on it. In the first months of the new term, we launched a new discussion forum, the “Münchner Gespräche,” where judges of the Munich courts present recent and highly relevant decisions and engage in discussions with researchers at our Institute. We will also continue our “Webinar Series” and regular meetings.

Looking ahead, our Institute will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2026. We plan to mark this occasion at our next Annual Conference with a one‑day academic program and a festive closing event. The program is in preparation, and the date will be announced soon.

In 2014, our Institute changed its name from Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition Law to Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition. The reason for this change was the Institute’s expansion into a center for interdisciplinary research, including the establishment of an independent Department of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research. This department joined us over ten years ago and has produced exceptional research and researchers. Our association is committed to promoting science in all fields represented at our Institute. However, neither the research focus nor the researchers of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research Department are sufficiently reflected and represented on the board or in the work of our association. We believe it is time to change this. While elections for the next term are scheduled for 2027, we already want to foster a more inclusive environment and welcome everyone motivated to engage in our association. This means providing an open atmosphere and showing mutual interest on every occasion, especially when we meet in person.

We also look back on a wonderful Christmas party in 2025 at the Institute, where many of us attended and engaged in discussions with the Institute’s young researchers. Experiencing this growing interest in our work and in the work of the Institute makes us optimistic about the future of our association.

In the hope of maintaining this commitment and fostering an engaging and inclusive spirit in 2026, we wish you a successful start to the new year.

Your Alumni Executive Committee

Moritz Sutterer (Chair)
Anna Yotova Guggenberger (Vice Chairwoman)
Timmy Pielmeier (Treasurer)
Philipp Fabbio (Secretary)
Sebastian Benz (Event Planning)

Membership

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Alumni Association, please fill out the application form here:

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Direct debit authorization (SEPA):
You can have your membership fee transferred directly to the Alumni Association via direct debit by using the following SEPA authorization form. Please fill out the form below.

SEPA direct debit mandate for the annual membership fee Creditor identification number: DE 89ZZZ00000454073 Mandate reference (membership number):

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issued for the association "Freunde und ehemalige Mitarbeiter des Max-Planck-Instituts für Innovation und Wettbewerb e.V.".

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The membership fee is collected on January 1 of the ongoing year.

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Bank details:
Hypovereinsbank München
IBAN: DE48 7002 0270 0659 5215 80
BIC/SWIFT: HY VED EMM XXX

Due to the Alumni Association’s charitable status, the membership fee in the amount of 35 euros is tax-deductible for anyone subject to German income tax (under Sec. 10b Income Tax Act). The tax authorities accept the bank transfer form as proof of payment provided that it contains the recipient’s name.

Contact Information and By-laws

Our contact address is:
The Alumni Association of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition
c/o Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition
Alumni-Office
Herzog-Max-Str. 4
80333 Munich
Email: alumni(at)ip.mpg.de

MPI-Alumni-Group at LinkedIn

By-laws:
For further information see the Association By-laws (EN-2016) / Vereinssatzung (DE-2016)

For our bank details see Membership.

Annual Conference

The joint Annual Meeting of the Institute and the Alumni Association took place on 10 October 2025.

Please find attached the detailed programme and a description of the main topic of our annual conference.

Programme_ 2025

Description

Munich Talks on Case Law in Intellectual Property and Competition Law (Münchener Gespräche)

1. Münchener Gespräch zur Rechtsprechung im Geistigen Eigentum und Wettbewerbsrecht | 1/12/2025 | 06:30 p.m. | Max-Planck-Institut für Innovation und Wettbewerb
CVRiLG Dr. Georg Werner (Landgericht München I) und Prof. Dr. Peter Picht, LL.M. (Yale) (Universität Zürich) sprechen zu Anti-Interim-Licence-Injunctions

2. Münchener Gespräch zur Rechtsprechung im Geistigen Eigentum und Wettbewerbsrecht | 27/02/2026 | 06:30 p.m. | Max-Planck-Institut für Innovation und Wettbewerb
Dr. Elke Schwager, Vorsitzende Richterin am Landgericht München I, und Prof. Dr. Franz Hofmann, LL.M. (Cambridge) sprechen über die Entscheidung GEMA gegen OpenAI

Seminars

15/01/2026 | 6 p.m. | Online
Faith in the market: Morality, trade marks and religious subject matter
Dr. Gabriele Spina Alí (IP administrator at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO))

18/12/2025 | 6 p.m. | Online
Works of applied art post CJEU Mio – a first analysis and outlook
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Annette Kur (Affiliated Research Fellow at the Max-Planck-Insitute for Innovation and Competition)

06/12/2025 | 6 p.m. | Online
Development of Generative Artificial Intelligence from a Copyright Perspective
Prof. Dr. Maurizio Borghi (Professor of Commercial Law at the Department of Law, University of Turin)
Dr. Bryan Khan (Researcher affiliated with the University of Turin and the University of the West Indies)

04/24/2025 | 6 p.m. | Online
EU Trade Secret Law, Reverse Engineering, Contractual Restrictions, and DeepSeek
Luc Desaunettes-Barbero
Post-doctoral researcher at CRIDES (UClouvain, Belgium), member of the CEIPI, teaches at UClouvain, CEIPI, and Sciences Po Strasbourg

11/29/2024 | 05:30 p.m. | Online
Green Claims and Greenwashing: New Legislative Developments and Caselaw
Prof. Dr. Alberto De Franceschi
University of Ferrara

30.11.2023 | 17:00 Uhr | Online
The UPC viewed through the lens of academic research: the entry into force of the court as a turning point?
Tamar Khuchua
Post-doctoral researcher, Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance of the University of Luxembourg

07.07.2023 | 17:00 Uhr | Online
Distinctiveness of Pharmaceutical Trademarks
Mariela Borgarello
Lawyer, lecturer on Intellectual Property Rights at FLACSO, Argentina and legal representative before Courts at the National Institute of Industrial Property, Argentina since 1996.

07.12.2022 | 18:00 Uhr | Online
Recent Intellectual Property Developments in the Ukraine
Yuriy Kapitsa, Doctor of Legal Sciences habil., J.S.D.,
Director of the Centre for Intellectual Property Studies and Technology Transfer of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

07.04.2022 | 18:00 Uhr | Online
Competition Issues in Indian Digital Market: Global Issues, Local Enforcement
Dr. Vikas Kathuria
Associate Professor BML Munjal Law School

03/16/2022 | 06:00 p.m. | Online
Competition Law Practices in Labour Markets (No-Poach and Wage Fixing Agreements)
Assistant Prof. Dr. Cicek Ersoy
Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Management – Department of Law

12/07/2021 | 05:00 p.m. | Online
What Is It to Be the In-House Lawyer in an Artistic Foundation? The Legal Affairs at the Giacometti Foundation, Paris.
Emile Bouchet-Le Mappain, Ph.D.
Head of Legal Affairs, Fondation Giacometti, Paris

11/15/2021 | 05:00 p.m. | Online
Cooperation Will Win – Working in the BioNTech Legal and IP Team during Project Timespeed
Fabian Böttger, LL.M.
Director Legal & IP, reSano GmbH – a BioNTech company