Christoph Ann

Professor Christoph Ann has held the TUM School of Management’s Chair of Corporate and IP Law since 2003.

Prof. Ann has earned law degrees in both Germany and the U.S. (LL.M., Duke ’88). Before coming to Munich, he practiced as an attorney in Munich and Erlangen and from 2000-2003 taught IP law as a full Professor of Law in Freiburg/Br., then Germany’s #1 law school. From 2001-2003 he also served as a judge on the Mannheim Regional Court’s renowned IP Infringement Panel with jurisdiction over the German state of Baden-Württemberg, which is technologically eminent. In Munich, Prof. Ann teaches IP Law at TUM and at the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center (MIPLC), where he also serves on the Managing Board.

On a regular basis, Prof. Ann teaches at universities abroad; in the U.S. (GWU, UWash, Duke Univ., Stetson, UOregon), in Australia (La Trobe Univ.), in France (IHEE and Université Robert Schuman, Strasbourg), and in Hungary (Andrássy University, Budapest). He holds adjunct professorships at both, George Washington University Law School, Washington D.C., and LaTrobe University, School of Law, Melbourne.

Prof. Ann’s has published six books and more than 150 articles and contributions to books. His new edition of the German speaking world’s leading treatise on Patent law (1,120 pp.) appeared in Feb. 2016. Prof. Ann’s interests focus on European and International Law of Technology Protection (Patents & Trade Secrets) including Licensing and Competition Law as well as the respective business environments (IP strategy and IP management).

Prof. Ann is a listed Neutral with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, chairman of the Nuremberg Chamber of Commerce’s Standing Court of Commercial Arbitration and has served as an arbitrator for the ICC, UNCITRAL, and the German Arbitration Institution (DIS). In Britain and the U.S. he has served as an expert for German and European IP Law.

Selected current research projects

Independence and impartiality of bodies charged with review of decisions at USPTO, SIPO, JPO, KIPO, EPO.

Sponsored student research project on backlogs at Big 5 Patent Offices.

Research on how African patent systems could be set up in ways beneficial for African SMEs, including present reform of the South African Company and IP Commission (CIPC)

Areas of interest

European and International Law of Technology Protection (Patents & Trade Secrets) including Licensing and Competition Law, including respective business environments (IP strategy and IP management)

Editorship (2013-2016)

• Schriftenreihe “Geistiges Eigentum und Wettbewerb (GEW)”, Verlag Carl Heymanns, Köln, Editorial Board Member (with Prof. Dr. Anja Steinbeck)
• Schriftenreihe des Munich Intellectual Property Law Center (MIPLC), Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, Baden- Baden, Editorial Board Member (with Prof. Dres. Robert Brauneis, Josef Drexl, Thomas Möllers und Joseph Straus)
• NomosKommentar BGB, Band 5: Erbrecht, 4. Aufl., 2014 (bis 2. Aufl. 2007 AnwaltKommentar im Anwaltverlag Bonn), Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, Baden-Baden, Co-Editor (with Prof. Dr. Ludwig Kroiß und Prof. Dr. Jörg Mayer)
• “Schriftenreihe Lizenzen und Lizenzvertragsrecht“ (bis 2015: “Schriftenreihe zum Technologietransfer“), Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, Baden-Baden, Editorial Board Member (with Prof. Dr. Christian Osterrieth)

Key Publications

• Ann, C.: Kommentierung §§ 2042-2063 BGB. C.H.BECK, 2016
• Kraßer, R.; Ann, C.: Patentrecht. C.H.BECK, 2016, ca. 1.000 Seiten
• Ann, C.; Maute, L.: Technologieschutz und Marken. C.H.BECK, 2016, 185 - 193
• Ann, C.: Patentwert und Patentnichtigkeit - Wieviel Rechtssicherheit dürfen Patentinhaber beanspruchen?. Mitt., 2016, 245 - 252
• Ann, C.; Anetsberger, G.; Wegner, H.; El Barbari, K.; Hormann, T.: Increasing Formalism in Appeal Proceedings - The EPO Boards of Appeal Headed to a Mere Reviewing Instance?. epi Information, 2015, 63 - 70
• Ann, C.: Arbeitnehmererfinderrecht - Beleg für die Leistungsfähigkeit deutscher Tarifpartnerschaft?. TFM, 2015, 29 - 34
• Ann, C.; Hauck, R.; Maute, L.: Auskunftsanspruch und Geheimnisschutz im Verletzungsprozess. Carl Heymanns, 2011, 187 S.