AI & IP FORUM

Mr. Gramenopoulos is a partner in Finnegan, Henderson's Washington, DC office. He has more than two decades of experience assisting domestic and international clients in the electrical and computer technology fields. Mr. Gramenopoulos is an accomplished patent litigator and strategic IP advisor, handling complex and high-stakes patent matters both in and outside of the courtroom and before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). Recognized by The Legal 500 U.S. and IAM Patent 1000, he is the lead author of the acclaimed international treatise, Global Patent Litigation: How and Where to Win, published by Bloomberg Law.

Angel Aledo Lopez joined the European Patent Office in January 2019 and was appointed Chief Technology Officer (CTO) in March 2019. In January 2025, he took on the position of Chief Operating Officer, which he combines with his responsibilities as CTO. During his career, he has held different positions in both technical and managerial roles. He has a deep understanding of the IP domain, over two decades of extensive experience in the field, and a strong interest in emerging technologies such as AI and cloud computing.

Dr Kemal Bengi-Akyürek was Chair of the EPO Board of Appeal 3.5.03 from December 2019 to November 2023 and, since 1 December 2023, has been Chair of Board 3.5.05, which is now responsible for the expanded technical spectrum of telecommunications, automation systems, mobile devices, acoustic devices (hearing aids), transport systems, and AI-based biomedical systems. He is also a member of the Enlarged Board of Appeal, the extended Presidium, the Committee for the revision of the Rules of Procedure of the Boards of Appeal (RPBA 2020), and Chair of the Advisory Committee on the application of the Code of Conduct of the Boards of Appeal. He also chairs the AI Group of the EPO Boards of Appeal.

Martin is chairman of the EPO's Technical Board of Appeal 3.5.06, which deals with computer technology and artificial intelligence, and a member of the Enlarged Board of Appeal. He joined the EPO as an examiner in 1998, was appointed a member of the Boards of Appeal in 2010, and chairman of board 3.5.06 in 2019. Martin studied computer science at the University of Karlsruhe (now KIT) and received a respective PhD from Saarland University. He is a regular speaker and author on patent law issues.

Stephan is since 2020 the Head of IP Strategy and Research with the thyssenkrupp Intellectual Property GmbH which bundles the IP staff of the thyssenkrupp group. Prior to that, he worked as Expert IP Strategy and Research for thyssenkrupp IP. thyssenkrupp IP uses AI regularly for its patent work. Stephan is also member of an industry working group on AI and IP. He has a Master in IP Law and Management and a Master of Science in industrial engineering.
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Nicole has been the Global IP Head at Sulzer, a top industrial company specializing in fluid engineering and chemical processing applications, since 2023. Prior to this role, she held positions as the Head of IP Management and IP Counsel for Sulzer's Chemtech Division. Before joining Sulzer, Nicole worked as a Senior IP Manager at Tillotts Pharma. She began her career in intellectual property at a private law firm before transitioning to Givaudan, a fragrance and flavor company. Nicole is a qualified European Patent Attorney and European Patent Litigator. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Business Administration degree and holds a background in biochemistry.

Marc is since January 2025 Team Lead of Data Analytics & Artificial Intelligence with BASF. Prior to that, he was a senior expert for innovation management and digitalization dealing with, among others, IP intelligence and AI. One of his tasks consists of applying, fine-tuning and adapting LLMs to real business cases for BASF. This includes utilising and applying Generative AI foundation models to business cases in IP, legal, chemistry and technology domain. Marc also built up internal capabilities for internal hosting, pre-training and fine-tuning of LLMs with IP and business data. Within the Patent Documentation Group, he chairs the Digital Experts Community and is Deputy Chair of the Digital IP Taskforce. He earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Darmstadt.

Filip De Corte currently serves as the Head of Intellectual Property at Syngenta Crop Protection, leading a team based in Switzerland, the United Kingdom, China, the United States, Brazil and the Netherlands. Prior to joining Syngenta in 2013, Filip held the position of Chief IP Counsel Europe at Cargill, where his responsibilities spanned patents, trademarks, and IP contracts. Before his tenure at Cargill, he worked with the Johnson & Johnson patent department including roles in Beerse with Janssen Pharmaceutica (1991-2004), New Brunswick (2004-2007), and Brussels (2007-2008). Filip has PhD in organic chemistry; he is a qualified European Patent Attorney and passed the US patent bar exam. He further holds the qualification of European Patent Litigation from the University of Strasbourg and earned an MBA from the Vlerick School of Management. Beyond his professional commitments, Filip has contributed to academia by delivering lectures at the University of Leuven in the IPR management course. Currently, he serves as a lecturer in the CEIPI European Litigator Course, focusing on multi-national litigation.

Tobias Haar has been working as a lawyer since 1999. He also holds international degrees in Legal Informatics (LL.M.) and Business Administration (MBA). He initially worked in the Communications, Media & Technology department of the major international law firm Clifford Chance until 2005. Since then, he has been an in-house lawyer and headed the legal departments at Gameforge (Karlsruhe) and Omio (Berlin), among others. Since 2023, he has been General Counsel at the European AI startup Aleph Alpha, based in Heidelberg. He lectures on IT law issues at the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT) and the Popakademie in Mannheim, among others. He has been publishing IT law articles in iX - the magazine for professional information technology - for over 20 years.

Patrick is the Vice President Intellectual Property - Bearings & Industrial Solutions with Schaeffler since October 2024. Prior to that, he was Schaeffler's Vice President Intellectual Property - IP Risk Management. Patrick joined Schaeffler in 2013 as a Patent Counsel. He wrote his doctoral thesis in law on the market development for combination products as objects of protection under patent and trademark law and studied mechanical engineering and business administration.

Maria Sorea leads the Services & Analytics Patenting team at Nokia Technologies and supports and advises internal clients on a wide range of intellectual property matters in the telecommunications field, including invention harvesting, drafting and prosecuting patent applications, worldwide patent portfolio management, overall IP strategy, licensing and litigation. She has over 16 years of experience in patent law and a proven track record of success in patenting technologies in various domains such as computing and software, AI/ML, IoT, security, multimedia. Maria is a European Patent Attorney and a German Patent Attorney and holds a PhD in computer science.

Stefan is a German and European Patent Attorney and since 2022 Vice President Patents and Scientific Services Core with Merck KGaA. Prior to that, he held several positions within the Merck Group, i.a. Vice President Patents B2B. Stefan is an experienced IP leader with a great wealth of experience as in-house counsel. He has been responsible for IP due diligence (including several 10+ billion targets), successful negotiation of patent deals (license, purchase, settlement), coordination of global patent disputes and finally management of a team of patent attorneys and experts through changes and mergers. More recently, he also fosters the use of AI in and out of Merck's patent department. Stefan holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Bayreuth, teaches patent know how at the Technical University Darmstadt and was recently elected as president of the expert group “patent law” in the German Chemical Society (GDCh).

Marc is a European and German Patent Attorney and serves since 2025 as Director Corporate Patents at Infineon Technologies. There he is involved with IP management and with implementing AI. His technical expertise spans various areas of physics, electrical engineering, computer science and mechanical engineering. He holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the Technical University Braunschweig.

Chris did his undergrad at Imperial College, masters at the University of Cambridge, and PhD at UCL, during which he published 10+ publications and won awards in top AI conferences and journals. He has worked in leading tech organisations, including Dyson, The Alan Turing Institute, and InstaDeep before its acquisition by BioNTech.

As founder, CEO, and European Patent Attorney, Tony Afram leads ipQuants AG in Schaffhausen, a company that specializes in optimizing both patent and trademark processes through its AI-powered platform, Qthena. With his extensive experience in intellectual property and strategic expertise, he plays a key role in shaping the future of digital IP management for international companies and law firms.

James Stonehill is the co-founder and CTO of NLPatent, an AI powered patent research platform that pioneered the use of language models in the patent space. James' background is in software engineering and artificial intelligence. Prior to founding NLPatent in 2021, James was an engineering manager at AI unicorn Onfido, which subsequently became the largest AI exit in the UK since DeepMind, where James spent 3.5 years leading teams and building cutting-edge Machine Learning systems for the identity verification space.

Dr. Jan-Christian Schuette is a Managing Partner at the IP law firm noventive and responsible for noventive's Berlin office. He advises industrial companies, start-ups and individual inventors with regard to IP. Dr. Schuette has particular experience with software inventions, especially AI-based methods and digital twins, as well as with the protection of digital business models. In addition, he advises his clients comprehensively on IP strategy and the optimization of IP processes. After 13 years in the IP department of one of the largest German corporations, most recently as head of department in Berlin, he joined noventive at the beginning of 2025. After studying biophysics at Humboldt University, with stages in Hong Kong and Oxford, he completed his doctorate at the Charité University Medical Center in Berlin with a thesis in experimental biophysics. He was admitted as a European Patent Attorney in 2014 and as a German in-house patent attorney in 2019. He is also admitted as a representative before the UPC. In addition, he completed the Master of IP Law and Management program at the University of Strasbourg in 2018.

Matthias Hofmann (Dr) is a partner and patent attorney at BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT in Munich and founder of PatentMaker Software GmbH, which specializes in AI-supported patent tools. With a doctorate in physics and computer science, he supports companies, research institutes, and start-ups, particularly in patent issues relating to artificial intelligence, computer implementations, and innovative technologies. He enjoys an international reputation in the field of machine learning and patent law, advises clients throughout Europe, and is also a visiting professor at a leading Chinese university.

Prior to becoming a Patent Attorney Claudia studied and worked in computer science. After completion of her studies she majored in computer science with a minor in medical technology, she received her PhD in the study of artificial intelligence. She has now been working as a patent lawyer in intellectual property law for over 15 years and advises market leading clients in different areas of intellectual property. Claudia has teaching positions at two universities and gives numerous seminars and lectures. Professional experience in her area of expertise is incorporated in the book titled 'Legal Protection for Computer implemented Inventions - A practical guide for Software related Patent Applications' which she wrote together with Ms. Kruspig, formerly director EPA, the recent edition published by Wolters Kluwer in 2026. In addition to her daily practice, she closely follows the current international developments of patent law in the field of legal protection for software.

Alexander is a UK and European Patent Attorney whose particular technical expertise is in AI and Machine Learning, having studied at the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit. In addition to his EPO oppositions practice, he focuses on helping clients protect their machine learning innovation in health care and TechBio, and he leads Kilburn & Strode's AI practice. Alexander has an MSci in Physics from Imperial College and a PhD in Computational Neuroscience from University College London. He is consistently recognised as leading individual for computer technology by the JUVE Patent UK rankings, a leading IP strategist listed in the IAM Strategy 300 and described by IAM Patent 1000 (2024) as "the go-to expert in the UK for any AI-related matters".

Patrick Heckeler is a recognized expert in the patentability of inventions in the IT sector, particularly in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). His expertise encompasses the legal and technical challenges related to the protectability of computer-implemented innovations as well as their strategic integration into patent portfolios. He handles cases in the areas of multimedia technology, telecommunications, computer architecture, operating systems, databases, embedded systems, audio and video coding, virtualization, and network technology. Through his previous work in the “Safety-Critical Systems” research group at the Chair of Technical Informatics at the University of Tübingen, Patrick Heckeler has also gained extensive knowledge in the development and verification of safety-critical systems, particularly for applications in the automotive sector and industrial automation. His core competencies as a patent attorney include patent prosecution, opposition and appeal proceedings, as well as representation in infringement and nullity actions before national courts and the Unified Patent Court (UPC).

Daniel is a German and European Patent Attorney with a strong practical focus on patent litigation and invalidity proceedings before German and European courts. His comprehensive practice also includes patent prosecution and opposition proceedings, as well as providing strategic counsel on patentability, validity, and FTO matters with a technical focus on electrical engineering and information technology. As a member of Bardehle Pagenberg's AI task force, Daniel is instrumental in shaping the firm's AI strategy. He has also initiated and managed several AI projects from concept through to completion since 2021. Daniel holds an M.Sc. in electrical engineering and IT from the University of the Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces) in Munich.

Christian is a German and European Patent Attorney with Maiwald IP since 2016. He advises and supports companies in prosecuting patent and utility model applications as well as in opposition, nullity and appeal proceedings. His specialist areas include software, sensor systems, data processing as well as semiconductor, medical and laboratory technologies. He has extensive knowledge in the areas of artificial intelligence, neural networks, machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), Industry 4.0, data security and autonomous driving. In addition, Christian advises clients in multinational patent infringement litigation cases, in particular in the areas of software and laboratory systems. His expertise in business-specific IP strategies was acquired during his time as an in-house patent counsel with internationally operating aerospace corporations and in the semiconductor industries. Christian studied physics at the Technical University of Munich and obtained his doctoral degree there in the field of radiation science.

Anna is a partner at Finnegan and leads the firm's copyright practice, representing clients in copyright litigation, licensing, and enforcement matters. Much of her practice focuses on novel issues surrounding AI and copyright. For example, she advises AI Progress, a coalition of technology companies dedicated to the responsible development of AI tools. Coalition members include Amazon, Anthropic, Cohere, Google, Meta, Midjourney, Microsoft, and OpenAI. She also developed the internal framework governing a manufacturer's integration of AI into software development workflows. Before rejoining Finnegan, she served as vice president of public policy at the National Association of Broadcasters, focusing on issues regarding AI, music licensing, privacy, and antitrust. Earlier, she was associate general counsel at the U.S. Copyright Office, where she helped implement the Music Modernization Act and advised the U.S. Department of Justice on copyright cases pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Dr. Marcus von Welser, LL.M., is a German Attorney-at-Law and a Certified IP Specialist at the Munich office of the law firm Vossius & Partner. His areas of expertise are intellectual property law and competition law. He advises, among others, rights holders, software developers, and platform operators on legal issues related to artificial intelligence. He is the author of various publications, including a practical handbook on copyright law.