Ralph Hahner

Ralph Hahner is a Patent Attorney, European Patent Attorney and European Trademark and Design Attorney. Due to his additional business qualification MBA (Collège des Ingénieurs), Mr. Hahner not only offers legal advice, but also focuses on the entrepreneurial needs of his clients.

Mr. Hahner's practice includes:

• Defense and enforcement of intellectual property rights in litigation proceedings (opposition proceedings, infringement proceedings and nullity proceedings). For example, he has handled proceedings concerning commercially important intellectual property rights in a team with attorneys-at-law in Germany, France, as well as in Italy.
• Drafting of patent applications; special knowledge in the field of software patents (computer-implemented inventions); representation in application proceedings before the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA), the European Patent Office (EPO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO); development and management of global patent portfolios.
• Examination of the validity of intellectual property rights and potential infringements of intellectual property rights in the context of expert opinions on freedom to operate with respect to intellectual property rights of third parties and on due diligence in corporate transactions.
• Preparation and support of trade fair appearances (filing of protective letters, warning letters, preliminary injunctions, defense against allegations of infringement, in particular Messe München, Messe Nürnberg, Messe Stuttgart, Messe Frankfurt, Messe Friedrichshafen, Agritechnica, Automatica, Bauma, Compamed, Electronica, Euroguss, Fakuma, Fastener Fair, Glasstec, IAA, Ifat, Laser World of Photonics, Productronica, Sensor + Test, Hannover Messe, SPS, Surface Technology Germany, Vision).

Mr. Hahner is admitted as representative at the UPC (European Patent Litigator (UPC)) since June 2023.

Due to his residences in the US and France, Mr. Hahner is fluent in English and French. He has authored several articles on intellectual property.
 

Mr. Hahner studied physics and electrical engineering in Germany and France. During his studies he specialized in applied physics and, in the course of this, in microelectronics and nanoelectronics. His research activities were in the field of measurement instruments and devices for optoelectronic applications. Mr. Hahner worked on the development of single photon emitters for quantum cryptography, for example.  

Owing to his education, Mr. Hahner possesses a broad technical expertise: communication and information technology, control engineering, micro- and optoelectronics and nanotechnology, medical technology, automotive engineering, filter technology, battery technology, and civil engineering.

since 2023
European Patent Litigator (UPC)

2015
Graduate of the CEIPI Training Program for technically qualified judges of the Unified Patent Court (UPC)

Since 2011
German Patent Attorney, European Trademark and Design Attorney and European Patent Attorney with Wallinger Ricker Schlotter Tostmann and Breuer Friedrich Hahner in Munich

2007 – 2010
Patent Attorney Trainee with Bardehle Pagenberg, the German Patent and Trademark Office and the Federal Patent Court in Munich

2006 – 2007
MBA at the Collège des Ingénieurs, Paris; project engineer at Renault SA (Technical Center Lardy, France) in the field of test benches

2000 – 2006
Studies of physics at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Dipl.-Phys.), studies of electrical engineering at Grenoble Institute of Technology (INPG - Ingénieur Diplômé) and studies of Micro- and Nanotechnology at the University Joseph Fourier in Grenoble; working student and internships at Robert Bosch GmbH (production planning), Andreas Stihl AG (tool shop), Mahle GmbH (production processes), Institut Laue-Langevin Grenoble (neutron delivery system) and CEA Grenoble (research in the field of cavity quantum electrodynamics)