Institute News

Hanns Ullrich’s career has been characterised by a relentless pursuit of excellence and a deep commitment to understanding the complexities of intellectual property law. In his academic work, he has addressed critical issues of patent law, competition law and the intersection of technology and innovation. His findings have not only advanced academic discourse, but have also influenced the legal framework and jurisprudence worldwide.

Already during his time as a Senior Research Fellow at the then Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Patent, Copyright and Competition Law in the 1970s and 1980s, Hanns Ullrich stood out because of his critical view of intellectual property law at a time when this did not correspond to the scientific mainstream at the Institute, much less outside it. And yet, thanks to this very trait, he can be regarded as a trailblazer and important pioneer of modern intellectual property law.

Beyond his academic achievements, Hanns Ullrich is celebrated for his mentoring role and his commitment to supporting the next generation of legal scholars. His ability to inspire young researchers and his willingness to initiate critical dialogue at all times have made him a challenging and therefore highly esteemed figure in the academic community.

After a long and impressive career, first as full professor at the University of the Bundeswehr (Federal Armed Forces) in Munich and from 2003 to 2006 also as a full professor at the European University Institute in Florence, Hanns Ullrich returned to the Institute as an Affiliated Research Fellow. We extend our hearfelt thanks to him for his contributions to numerous research projects since then. To this day, he can regularly be found in his office and he continues to speak out on current topics - most recently in the research paper Die Schattenseite des Einheitspatents (The Dark Side of the Unitary Patent) in the Institute’s SSRN series.

Hanns Ullrich has received many honours. In 2009, for his 70^th birthday, he was presented with the commemorative publication Technology and Competition/Technologie et Concurrence, which was followed up in the volume A Critical Mind, published in 2020. In 2015, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Faculty of Law at the University of Zurich.

Even in his advanced age, Professor Ullrich’s influence remains undiminished. His publications continue to be essential reading for anyone interested in the dynamics of intellectual property and competition law. Even his earlier works are still cited by academics today, a testament to their enduring relevance and impact.

The Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition congratulates Hanns Ullrich most sincerely on his 85^th birthday. We celebrate not only his remarkable career, but also his contributions to our community and the research fields of our Institute. His thinking is defined by intellectual rigour, integrity and his unwavering commitment to the pursuit of knowledge.

Prof. Herbert Hovenkamp's keynote speech opened the conference and set the scene by offering valuable insights into the latest intellectual property and antitrust issues. Distributed in several parallel sessions, the papers covered both horizontal, crosscutting issues as well as specific aspects related to standard essential patents, AI, patenting strategies in the pharmaceutical sector or press publishers’ rights, among others. A roundtable with industry representatives and legal practitioners helped to link the academic perspective to market realities, while the final debate with Hanna Anttilainen from the DG Competition at the European Commission offered an excellent opportunity to learn about and discuss current and future developments on innovation-related competition policy.

Rudolf Kraßer was born in Fürth and attended the Oberrealschule there. After graduating from high school in 1952, he decided to study law at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich on a scholarship from the Maximilianeum Foundation. After passing his law exams, he obtained his doctorate in 1960 under Eugen Ulmer, the founding director of the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Patent, Copyright and Competition Law - as the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition was then known - with a comparative law dissertation on the legal status of various national patent offices. In his subsequent time as a research assistant at the Institute, he was a key pillar of the project on unfair competition in Europe. He wrote the volume on French unfair competition law in 1967. In 1970, Rudolf Kraßer also completed his habilitation with Eugen Ulmer with a comparative law thesis on the protection of contractual rights against interference by third parties under tort and unfair competition law.

The Technical University of Munich (TUM) appointed Rudolf Kraßer as a full professor in 1973, where he devoted himself primarily to the legal training of industrial engineering graduates at the former Faculty of General Sciences. His academic work comprises around 100 publications on the protection of intellectual property rights alone, a considerable number of which resulted from projects at the Institute. Particularly noteworthy is his work on patent law, now continued by Christoph Ann, which is regarded as a leading textbook and handbook and has earned Rudolf Kraßer a reputation as the doyen of patent law in the German-speaking world.

Rudolf Kraßer was appointed to the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Patent, Copyright and Competition Law as an External Scientific Member in 1974. To this day, he attends meetings of the Institute in an advisory capacity, most recently on 17 June 2024 at the meeting of the Board of Trustees.

He was involved in many committees and organizations and received numerous awards and honours. These reflect his outstanding achievements and his high standing in the scientific community. He is regarded as a shining example of true scientific excellence. This is combined in a very likeable way with his reserved manner, which never pushes his own person to the fore. His written and spoken word is convincing.

The Institute would like to thank Rudolf Kraßer for his many years of support and active involvement in many of the Institute's research projects, which did not begin with his appointment as a Foreign Scientific Member 50 years ago. We wish him all the best on his 90th birthday!

The conference will be held at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law. Travel funding is available for international participants requiring assistance with travel expenses to attend the conference.

The Amazon rainforest symbolizes the heart of Latin America, but it's also a place that reflects problems affecting the continent and globally. Placing it at the center of the debate allows opening up issues of general interest, such as climate change, sustainable development, conflicts over land rights, Indigenous Peoples’ rights, environmental degradation, access to connectivity and digitization, urban and rural life developments and inequalities, and how to set limits to extractive industrialization.

Please find the details to submit your abstract by 17 June on the Max Planck Law website.

The prize, which has been awarded by the IP Hall of Fame Academy since 2006 and was developed by the IAM platform, honors personalities who have made a special contribution to establishing intellectual property as one of the most important economic factors of the 21st century. Award winners include the former directors of the Institute, Friedrich Karl Beier and Joseph Straus.

The IP Hall of Fame Academy is made up of former, living members of the IP Hall of Fame and individuals who have been nominated for membership based on their recognized expertise in international intellectual property issues.

Annette Kur was a Research Fellow at the Institute from 1980 to 2021 and has remained closely associated with the Institute as an Affiliated Research Fellow since 2021. Her research focuses on European and international trademark and design law, overlap issues, and the interface between intellectual property and private international law. In 2023, she played a leading role in the Institute's Statement on the EU-Design Package.

See also World Trademark Review