Born 1962 in Fürstenfeldbruck. Legal studies in Munich and Geneva, doctorate in Munich (1990), Master of Laws at the University of California at Berkeley (1993), German Habilitation in private law, commercial and business law, intellectual property law, European law, comparative law in Munich (1996), Professor of Private Law and European Economic Law in Würzburg (1997), Professor of Private Law, European and International Economic Law in Munich (2000 - 2006), Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law, now Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition (since 2002).