Overview

Bernhard Lorenz, Ph.D., focuses his practice on patent prosecution and post-grant proceedings before the European Patent Office (EPO), as well as on strategic counseling at the intersection of European and U.S. practice. He is also registered as a professional representative before the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). 

Bernhard has worked in a variety of fields with an emphasis on the areas of computer hardware and software, telecommunications, medical devices, as well as mechanical and automotive engineering. Prior to moving to IP, he worked as a consultant in the field of IT and in the automotive industry for larger German companies and metropolitan transport authorities. 

Before joining the Munich office of Fish, Bernhard worked several years for an Italian law firm with offices in Italy and Switzerland. There, his practice emphasized patent drafting, patent prosecution, and opposition, primarily in the fields of medical devices and mechanical engineering, as well as computer-implemented inventions. Bernhard also worked as a law clerk at the German Patent and Trademark Office (GPTO) and at the Federal Patent Court in Munich. 

Bernhard received his Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Munich in 2006, where he did research on navigation systems, motion planning, and robotics. During his time at the university, Bernhard was assistant coordinator of the working group A1 in the EU-funded FP6 Project REWERSE, “Reasoning on the Web with Rules and Semantics”. Bernhard also has a degree in computer science (Dipl.-Inform.) from the University of Munich. He is fluent in German and English. 

For more than two decades, Bernhard worked in his free time as an instructor for a major German car manufacturer. Over the years he taught everything from the basics of car control and driving safety, driving off-road and on snow & ice, to track driving to thousands of participants ranging from beginners to professional drivers. He still occasionally enjoys going on a closed track or off–roading, even if only as a student. 

Professional Associations

  • Institute of Professional Representatives before the European Patent Office (EPI)
  • German Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (GRUR)
  • Registered as a professional representative before the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO)