Dr. Stefan Zenker LL.M. (London)

[Business Card]

Qualification and position

  • German Attorney-at-Law, admission to the bar in 2010
  • Non-Equity-Partner

Specialisation

  • Protective rights: trademarks, utility models and patents
  • Unfair competition
  • Copyright law
  • Litigation
  • Strategic advice and IP portfolio management
  • Licences
  • IP in corporate transactions
  • Border seizure

Languages

German, English

Biography

  • Study at the University of Leipzig
  • Study at the Leopold Franzens University of Innsbruck
  • Study at the London School of Economics
  • Study at the University of Augsburg
  • Legal clerkship in Munich and Brussels
  • Master’s degree in Intellectual Property & Information Law at King’s College London
  • Doctoral studies at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich as a scholarship holder of the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition Law
  • Teaching assignments (completed) at the University of Augsburg, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the Berlin School of Economics and Law
  • Worked at the national and international law firms Milbank in Munich and Harte-Bavendamm in Hamburg
  • Worked as in-house counsel and principal expert for trademark and competition law in the corporate legal department of a mobility and logistics company
  • Founded the law firm Zenker IP in Hamburg, later Berlin

Memberships

  • German Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (GRUR)
  • Alumni of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
  • Alumni of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition

Publications

  • Antitrust law and abuse of rights, dissertation 2019
  • Hasselblatt (ed.), Community Design Regulation (Art. 27, 29-31), 1st edition 2015 and 2nd edition 2018
  • Hasselblatt (ed.), EU Trade Mark Regulation (Art. 74a-74k), 2nd ed. 2018
  • Commentary on German Federal Court of Justice, I ZR 84/16: Misleading advertising in the absence of a contractual partner’s postal address, GWR 2018, 178
  • Commentary on Higher District Court Cologne, 6 U 152/16 (with Sarah Vanessa Schneider): No claim for injunctive relief under competition law in the event of a breach of the disclosure obligation, GWR 2017, 304
  • Commentary on ECJ, T-159/15: EUIPO must take previous decision-making practice into account, GRUR-Prax 2016, 474
  • Commentary on ECJ, T-123/14: Likelihood of confusion between ‘AquaPerfect’ and ‘waterPerfect’, GRUR-Prax 2016, 124
  • Commentary on German Federal Court of Justice, I ZR 237/14: Protection of company name even without official permission, GWR 2016, 430
  • Commentary on German Federal Court of Justice, KZR 92/13: Admissibility of demarcation agreements under antitrust law, GWR 2016, 325
  • Commentary on District Court Munich I, 33 O 5017/15 (with Oliver Kreutz): Ad blocker ‘AdBlock Plus’ does not constitute anti-competitive obstruction, GWR 2016, 235
  • Commentary on Higher District Frankfurt a.M., 6 U 244/14: On the liability of internet portal operators for critical blog posts, GWR 2016, 185
  • Commentary on District Court Hamburg, 416 HKO 159/14: Ad blocker ‘AdBlock Plus’ does not constitute anti-competitive obstruction, GWR 2016, 81
  • Comment on German Federal Court of Justice, I ZR 173/14: Insolvency resistance of trademark licences within a group, GWR 2016, 60
  • Comment on German Federal Court of Justice, I ZR 13/14: On the admissibility of the Tagesschau app, GWR 2015, 499
  • Comment on District Court Hamburg, 308 O 143/14: Abusive ‘torpedo lawsuit’ does not preclude subsequent action for performance in Germany, GWR 2015, 477
  • Comment on ECJ, T-655/13: No change to the trademark category in the application procedure, GRUR-Prax 2015, 104
  • Comment on ECJ, T-229/12: ‘Accessories’ as a product category in class 18 too vague, GRUR-Prax 2014, 477
  • Comment on Higher District Court Stuttgart, 12 U 193/13: Use of a foreign honorary title without indication of origin, GRUR-Prax 2014, 337
  • Comment on German Federal Court of Justice, I ZR 173/12: No concrete competitive relationship with competitors of a sponsored company, GRUR-Prax 2014, 164
  • Comment on ECJ, T-245/12: No change in the type of trademark against the recognisable will of the trademark owner, GRUR-Prax. 2014, 80

Lecturing

  • Göttingen Forum for IP and Competition Law 2025 at Georg August University of Göttingen, Germany: ‘Green Claims and Greenwashing – Sustainability-related Advertising in the Light of Fair Trading Law’
  • Conference ‘Competition, Sustainability & Law’ of the Competition Centre 2024 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany: ‘Green Claims between Transport Transition and (Over)Regulation’
  • German Lawyers’ Day 2023 in Wiesbaden, Germany: ‘That’s Green – Environmental Corporate Communications in Light of Competition Law’
  • Intellectual Property & Media Working Group (AGEM) of the German Bar Association (DAV), Current Union Trademark – one-day intensive course 2018 in Hamburg, Germany: ‘Infringement proceedings and cancellation proceedings’
  • Intellectual Property & Media Working Group (AGEM) of the German Bar Association (DAV), one-day intensive course on Community trademarks 2015 in Cologne, Germany: ‘The cancellation of Community trademarks – cancellation proceedings’