Jan Robert Naefe

In his practice as a German patent attorney and a European patent trademark and design attorney, Jan Robert Naefe works in the fields of materials science and basic industry (metallurgy, metal processing, ceramics, glass, building materials, plastics processing and industrial furnace design), as well as the technical sector in general and inorganic chemistry. In legal matters, Mr Naefe has a special interest in contract law, in particular licensing and legal purchase agreements. He also has extensive dealings in opposition, nullity and infringement proceedings. Another field of interest is trademark and design/model law.

Mr Naefe has many years of experience in the field of industrial property protection (since 1996). He completed his training in a patent and legal attorneys’ office, in the German Patent and Trademark Office and at the German Federal Patent Court. Following this, he worked in a Munich attorneys’ office before becoming a co-founder of a Munich patent and legal attorneys’ office in 2002.

In 2013, Mr Naefe became founding partner of Patronus IP in Munich. From 1 March, he has been a partner at HGF Europe LLP.

Prior to training as a patent attorney, Mr Naefe studied material sciences at the Technical University of Clausthal. During the course of his studies, he gained experience in the glass industry, the cement and construction materials industry and the refractory industry.

Through his ongoing education as an organisational designer, Mr Naefe is pursuing knowledge about future leadership and modern organisational structures in companies, as this topic has been of interest to him for a very long time, and he would like to include it in his consulting work. The training is ideal as it complements his work as a coach, which focuses on the individual.

HGF Ltd is one of Europe’s largest firms of IP specialists. It is one of only a few to offer clients a fully integrated IP solution, bringing together over 200 patent attorneys, trademark attorneys and IP solicitors. The firm has 23 offices throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

HGF has an ambitious growth strategy and is already one of the leading firms in the United Kingdom and throughout Europe in terms of its national reach, volume of Patent Cooperation Treaty and EU trademark filings and position in major legal directories. Its growth has been secured organically and through a combination of acquisition and strategic lateral hires from both private practice and in-house counsel.

HGF has a proven track record in forging successful long-term relationships with clients across a spectrum of business sectors and technologies. The firm’s highly experienced attorneys, commitment to client service and geographical profile ensure that it is uniquely placed to attend to high-value and complex IP issues.

Specialist teams

HGF offers everything you would expect of a world-class IP firm, including patent drafting, filing and prosecution, trademarks, design rights, copyright, oppositions and appeals, IP litigation, IP strategy, IP due diligence, freedom to operate, supplementary protection certificates and IP contracts, and licensing.

The firm has dedicated teams of experts working across key industry sectors with relevant experience who fully understand their clients’ businesses and appreciate the significance of their brands, innovations and other IP assets.

Patent team

Our patent team comprises 38 partners, 66 patent attorneys and over 50 trainee patent attorneys. Many of our patent attorneys have years of experience working with or for some of the world’s leading technology companies. As a recommended firm in the IAM Patent 1000, HGF also has 13 attorneys listed. The team’s expertise and experience cover the whole range of technical fields.

The chemistry group at HGF is one of the leading multidisciplinary chemical IP practices in Europe. Combining world-class expertise from patent and trademark attorneys and IP solicitors, the team provides advice to a wide range of clients on complex issues. It is specifically sought out by clients to secure and protect their most valuable technology in the chemical arena.

HGF provides expert, commercially oriented patent advice and services to a range of organisations working in the electronics and advanced technology sector. As well as offering patent registration worldwide, it can help shape a business’s IP strategy, enabling it to make best use of its portfolio and to identify new opportunities for the future. Core technology areas include telecommunications, computer software, semiconductor technology, 3D printing, artificial intelligence, drone and autonomous vehicles and flexible electronics.

When it comes to engineering, HGF maintains a talented and specialised engineering team, who have individual expertise in areas including automotive, aerospace, cleantech, energy, medical devices and packaging. Our experience helps our clients to realise the full commercial potential of their inventions and innovations.

With one of the United Kingdom’s largest teams of specialist life sciences attorneys, HGF has a wealth of experience providing clients with practical, legal and strategic advice on managing their life sciences intellectual property. From protecting new research from the United Kingdom’s most prestigious universities, to high-profile oppositions and court proceedings on market-leading products, our attorneys’ practices cover the full range of life sciences innovations.

Languages spoken

The firm’s spoken languages include Chinese, German, French, Dutch, Japanese, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Greek, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Twi, Kyrepong, Ga, Portuguese, Mandarin, Russian, Cantonese, Polish, Gaelic, Arabic, Hindi and Bengali.

International

HGF is one of a few firms to have mapped out reciprocity across the globe and to have a clear strategy for growing international work, targeting the United States, Japan, India, Korea and China with focused activities.

HGF has connections with:

• the Asian Patent Attorneys Association;
• the International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys;
• the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property;
• the American Intellectual Property Law Association;
• the Biotechnology Innovation Organisation (BIO); 
• BIO Korea;
• BIO Japan;
• BIO Europe;
• the International Trademark Association;
• Managing Intellectual Property;
• the North East of England Process Industry Cluster;
• International Drug Discovery Science Technology; and
• the American Bar Association.