Biography: Trademarks

Michael Best is an attorney-at-law and partner in the law firm Best Rechtsanwaelte based in Frankfurt am Main. He studied law in Mainz, Germany and in Dijon, France and became first involved in intellectual property as a scientific assistant at the University of Mainz in 1987 where he also wrote a doctoral thesis in trademark and unfair competition law. He then worked as an auditing assistant at a large German auditing firm for two years before he became in-house counsel in the trademark department of the chemical and pharmaceutical company Hoechst AG in 1992. Michael Best was appointed deputy head of that department in 1997. In 1998, he co-founded the firm, which won the Lawyers' World title Intellectual Property Law Firm of the Year in Germany in 2011.

Michael Best has worked as counsel to clients around the world in all aspects of trademark, design, domain, copyright, and unfair competition matters for more than 20 years. One particular focus of his work lies on the management of large international trademark portfolios for clients in various industries (eg, the chemical, pharmaceutical, fashion, energy, automotive, financial industries), including prosecution, litigation, licensing, assignment and renewal projects. He is also specialised in accompanying trademark creation projects, in particular by conducting worldwide availability searches.

At various conferences and other events Michael Best appeared as a speaker and moderator and he has published various articles. He is a member of the International Trademark Association (INTA), the European Communities Trademark Association (ECTA), the Pharmaceutical Trade Marks Group (PTMG) and other IP organisations.