History


A short overview

The law firm was founded in 1931 by the chemist Dr.-Ing. Robert Poschenrieder. After having been admitted as a German
patent attorney, he opened his practice in Berlin, the seat of the German Patent Office („Reichspatentamt“).
During the Second World War, his office was destroyed, which made him leave for Munich, where his parents were living.
He opened a new office there, in Lucile-Grahn-Straße, next to the Prinzregententheater, a very famous Munich playhouse.
This proved to be a clever move since the German Patent Office opened in Munich in 1950. In the 1950s Poschenrieder
expanded his practice and hired a number of qualified staff, inter alia Dr.-Ing. Elisabeth Boettner, his future partner.
The firm was also active in the training of IP paralegals and patent attorneys, one of them being the future partner
Dr. Dipl.-Chem Gerhard D. Schupfner.
In 1963 Dr. Ing. Elisabeth Boettner became a partner, concentrating mainly on the field of chemistry.

In 1966 Dipl.-Ing. Hans-Jürgen Müller left the IP department of Siemens to join the firm and in 1968 he took charge of the
technical department of the firm.
In 1972, after Robert Poschenrieder’s death, Dr. rer. nat. Thomas Berendt joined the firm as a further partner.
Around the time the European Patent Office took up operation, Dr.-Ing. Hans Ley became an interim partner, while
Elisabeth Boettner retired in 1975.

1981 marked a further step in the development of the firm – the partners decided to go separate ways. A large part of the
clients continued their work with Hans-Jürgen Müller. At the same time, Dr. Dipl.-Chem. Gerhard D. Schupfner, formerly
head of the IP department of Deutsche Texaco AG, joined the firm. He became Mr. Müller’s partner and opened an office
in Buchholz, south of Hamburg. At the same time, Dipl.-Ing. Hans Peter Gauger, a specialist in the filed of engines and
mechanical engineering, merged his office with the firm of Hans-Jürgen Müller and Gerhard D. Schupfner and the firm
expanded into other areas of work of IP work. In 1981, Müller, Schupfner & Gauger celebrated its 50th anniversary.
In 1989 the Munich office moved to Maximilanstraße, directly opposite the Bavarian State Opera. The Buchholz office also
had to move – the old office having become too small they choose larger premises in Parkstraße. During the past 25 years
both the Munich office and the Buchholz office have successfully grown.

In 1998 Dr. Dipl.-Chem Georg U. Schupfner became a new partner in Buchholz.
One year later, Dipl.-Ing. (Univ.) F. Peter Müller joined the Munich office as a partner. Also since this year Dr.-Ing. Franz
Josef Fuchs, who had for many years headed the Siemens IP department managing the Siemens subsidiaries, has been
acting as an advisor for the firm. After Hans-Peter Gauger retired in April 2004, Dr. Reta Schinkel joined the firm as a junior
partner at the beginning of 2006. In 2007 Clemens P. Bauer followed. Both are today full-fledged partners of Müller
Schupfner & Partner.

In 2006 the firm celebrated its 75th anniversary. To commemorate this anniversary, a retrospective with many interesting
details was published.

  Broschüre 75 Jahre Müller Schupfner | Eine Retrospektive 1931 – 2006 (PDF-Datei mit 3,1 MB)  

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