Alumni

The Alumni Association, “Friends and Former Employees of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition”, aims to promote study and research in the Institute’s fields of emphasis.

The Executive Committee of the Alumni Association is composed of:

Moritz Sutterer (Chair), Anna Yotova Guggenberger (Vice Chairwomen), Simon Holzer (Treasuer), Philipp Fabbio (Secretary), Cicek Ersoy (Event Management)

Greeting from the Executive Committee

Dear Alumni and Friends of the Institute,

We would like to welcome you as the new Alumni Executive Committee of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition.

It is important to us to promote the network within our organisation, to encourage personal exchange between our members and to strengthen the bond with our Institute. The Institute is facing major changes this year and next. These include a change in the management of the IP Department and the Institute's move to new premises in the center of Munich. We want to support the Institute in its efforts to manage these tasks and provide assistance wherever possible. We also want to improve the visibility of our organisation at the Institute. This will include increased interaction between our members and the current PhD students and postdocs at the Institute.

The last few years have been dominated by the pandemic. Some of the events that are important to us, such as the annual Alumni Conference, unfortunately could not take place as usual. We had to switch to online formats. However, this has also proved to be an opportunity and an enrichment, allowing our members from all over the world to participate in association meetings, discussion sessions and our webinars. We intend to maintain the newly developed formats and continue to offer regular webinars to our members. At the same time, we are planning more frequent face-to-face meetings, starting with the resumption of our annual Alumni Conference at the MPI in 2024.

Our Alumni Association currently has over 400 members from around the world. It is not always easy to bring them all together and involve them in the activities of the association. But we are a network of alumni and networks allow for decentralised activities. We would be delighted if you would take advantage of this opportunity and organise local meetings. As an idea and suggestion, we can imagine local get-togethers, e.g. after our webinars. In Munich we want to start with the next webinar.

Our former Alumni Executive Committee has initiated the development of our own website. We hope to have it up and running in the spring. Until then, you can find us here.

We rely on the cooperation and engagement of all alumni to strengthen the exchange at regional and international level and to organise social events and activities. Please get involved, we look forward to working with you.

Your Alumni Executive Committee

Moritz Sutterer (Chair)
Anna Yotova Guggenberger (Vice Chairwoman)
Simon Holzer (Treasurer)
Philipp Fabbio (Secretary)
Cicek Ersoy (Event Planning)

Contact Information and By-laws

Our contact address is:
Alumni Association of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition
c/o Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition
Alumni-Office
Marstallplatz 1
80539 München
Email: alumni(at)ip.mpg.de

MPI-Alumni-Group at LinkedIn

By-laws:
For further information see the Association By-laws (2016)

For our bank details see Membership.

Annual Conference

The joint Annual Meeting of the Institute and the Alumni Association took place on 11 October 2024.

Programme as pdf

Seminars

04/24/2025 | 6 p.m. | Online
EU Trade Secret Law, Reverse Engineering, Contractual Restrictions, and DeepSeek
Luc Desaunettes-Barbero
Post-doctoral researcher at CRIDES (UClouvain, Belgium), member of the CEIPI, teaches at UClouvain, CEIPI, and Sciences Po Strasbourg

11/30/2023 | 5 p.m.| Online
The UPC viewed through the lens of academic research: the entry into force of the court as a turning point?
Tamar Khuchua
Post-doctoral researcher, Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance of the University of Luxembourg

07/07/2023 | 5:00 p.m. | Online
Distinctiveness of Pharmaceutical Trademarks
Mariela Borgarello
Lawyer, lecturer on Intellectual Property Rights at FLACSO, Argentina and legal representative before Courts at the National Institute of Industrial Property, Argentina since 1996.

12/07/2022 | 06:00 p.m. | Online
Recent Intellectual Property Developments in the Ukraine
Yuriy Kapitsa, Doctor of Legal Sciences habil., J.S.D.,
Director of the Centre for Intellectual Property Studies and Technology Transfer of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

04/07/2022 | 06:00 p.m. | Online
Competition Issues in Indian Digital Market: Global Issues, Local Enforcement
Dr. Vikas Kathuria
Associate Professor BML Munjal Law School

03/16/2022 | 06:00 p.m. | Online
Competition Law Practices in Labour Markets (No-Poach and Wage Fixing Agreements)
Assistant Prof. Dr. Cicek Ersoy
Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Management - Department of Law

12/07/2021 | 05:00 p.m. | Online
What Is It to Be the In-House Lawyer in an Artistic Foundation? The Legal Affairs at the Giacometti Foundation, Paris.
Emile Bouchet-Le Mappain, Ph.D.
Head of Legal Affairs, Fondation Giacometti, Paris

11/15/2021 | 05:00 p.m. | Online
Cooperation Will Win - Working in the BioNTech Legal and IP Team during Project Timespeed
Fabian Böttger, LL.M.
Director Legal & IP, reSano GmbH - a BioNTech company

Membership

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Alumni Association, you can access the application form here:
Application form (pdf)

Bank details:
Hypovereinsbank München
IBAN: DE48 7002 0270 0659 5215 80
BIC/SWIFT: HY VED EMM XXX

Direct debit authorization (SEPA):
You can have your membership fee transferred directly to the Alumni Association via direct debit by using the following SEPA authorization form. Please sign the form and return it either via e-mail or by post to the executive committee.
SEPA Direct debit authorization

Due to the Alumni Association’s charitable status, the membership fee in the amount of 35 euros is tax-deductible for anyone subject to German income tax (under Sec. 10b Income Tax Act). The tax authorities accept the bank transfer form as proof of payment provided that it contains the recipient’s name.

Donations of more than 50 euros require written confirmation by the executive committee. For this purpose, please send an e-mail with the payor’s name and address to matthias.bosch(at)bgsj.com