Dr. Nico Riffel advises clients on a wide range of patent and IP matters. His focus areas include strategic IP counseling, IP due diligence, freedom-to-operate analyses, and the management of contentious proceedings, in particular opposition, nullity, and infringement proceedings before the European Patent Office and German courts, including the Federal Court of Justice. He was also involved in one of the few compulsory licensing cases in Germany and has extensive experience coordinating international patent disputes. 

Dr. Riffel studied biochemistry at Goethe University Frankfurt and conducted research in Oxford before completing his PhD at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg. Following his training as a German patent attorney at a renowned Munich law firm, he worked as Senior Patent Counsel at a global pharmaceutical company. He has also been actively engaged in the reform of German patent law and qualified as a European Patent Litigator (UP/UPC). Since 2020, he has been “Of Counsel” to the firm.

Dr. Riffel places great emphasis on strategically oriented and commercially meaningful advice throughout the entire innovation lifecycle. He supports inventors and companies from university research and the start-up phase through to successful business development. As a reviewer for the Science4Life competition and a lecturer at several universities, he is particularly committed to introducing inventors early to the fundamentals and requirements of patent law.

He assists numerous national and international companies in developing and implementing patent strategies, managing global grant and opposition proceedings, and conducting comprehensive due diligence projects.