With effect from 1 March 2021, Maiwald Patentanwalts- und Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH, one of Germany’s leading IP firms, appointed three of its Munich patent attorneys to Counsel. Patent attorneys Kerstin Reitwießner, Klaus Breitenstein and Thomas Friede, specialists in the fields of chemistry, biotech and pharmaceuticals, have been with the firm for many years. Maiwald believes in the importance of investing in the future of high-profile professionals and that its appointment of Kerstin Reitwießner, Klaus Breitenstein and Thomas Friede as Counsel will be a further strong impetus to growth in the firm’s important chemistry, biotech and pharmaceutics departments.
Dr Kerstin Reitwießner (born 1974) studied chemistry at the Technical University of Darmstadt. She joined the Munich office of Maiwald in 2017, qualifying as a German patent attorney and European patent attorney in 2010. Her professional activities cover patent prosecution, oppositions, nullity and infringement actions in the fields of chemistry and chemical process engineering.
Dr Klaus Breitenstein (born 1971) studied chemistry at the University of Duisburg, obtaining his doctoral degree in 2000. Prior to joining Maiwald in 2016, he worked, inter alia, at the Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo (CID) des Consejo Superior de Investigaciónes Científicas (CSIC) in Barcelona, Spain. Klaus Breitenstein is a qualified German and European patent attorney, specializing in German and international IP law. The main emphasis of his work is on patent prosecution and patent litigation in the fields of chemistry and pharmaceuticals.
Dr. Thomas Friede has more than 15 years’ experience as a German and European patent attorney in advising and representing SMEs and large corporations in the fields of biotech, pharmaceuticals and diagnostic products. He holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry. His doctoral research was carried out at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ). As a patent attorney, his particular expertise includes drafting patent applications, preparing FTOs and validity opinions and conducting opposition/appeal proceedings before the EPO. He has extensive experience and expertise in patent infringement and nullity proceedings. Thomas Friede joined Maiwald in 2019.
