Inhalt
CVs of DPMA top management
The German Patent and Trade Mark Office is headed by the President, the two Vice-Presidents as well as the Heads of the four Directorates General.
President
Cornelia Rudloff-Schäffer

Cornelia Rudloff-Schäffer
Since 1 January 2009, Cornelia Rudloff-Schäffer is the President of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office. She is the first woman to hold this leadership position. With more than three decades of academic, legislative and administrative experience she is a nationally and internationally renowned expert in the field of intellectual property protection.
Cornelia Rudloff-Schäffer studied Law, Politics and Journalism in Mainz and was awarded a scholarship under the study support programme of the Bischöfliche Studienförderung Cusanuswerk. After the second state examination in Law, she did research at Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Patent, Copyright and Competition Law (now MPI for Innovation and Competition) as from 1984 and lectured at the Ludwig–Maximilians–Universität in Munich.
In 1991, she transferred to the Federal Ministry of Justice. There she headed the Section "Legal Issues of New Technologies" and the Section "Trade Mark Law, Law Against Unfair Competition" and represented the Federal Republic of Germany at international conferences. In 2001, she took over management of the Legal Division of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office, and in 2006, was appointed Head of the Trade Marks, Utility Models and Designs Department.
Cornelia Rudloff-Schäffer is the co-author of the standard legal commentary "Schulte, Patentgesetz mit EPÜ”, whose tenth edition is published in 2017. Tongji University in Shanghai awarded an honorary professorship to her in 2011 in recognition of Germany’s contribution to setting up the Chinese patent system.
The German Federal President appointed her a member of the Board of Trustees of the Deutscher Zukunftspreis award in 2009. She is a member of the German delegation at the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation and of the General Council of the German Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (GRUR). Since 2015, she has been the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition.
Vice-President
Christine Moosbauer

Christine Moosbauer
Since 25 September 2017, Christine Moosbauer has been Vice-President of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office.
She studied Communications Engineering at the Technische Universität München from 1975 to 1981.
From 1982 to 1991, Christine Moosbauer initially held engineering positions at two different medical technology companies for hardware and software development of small and large medical devices. She was entrusted with various tasks – from product development over production support to marketing.
In 1992, she took a position at the German Patent and Trade Mark Office, where she initially worked as Deputy Head of section and Head of section in the IT department. From 1998 to 2002, she was a patent examiner in the fields of semiconductor and medical technology and, from 2002 to 2006, she was Head of the patent administration at the DPMA.
Subsequently, for seven years, Christine Moosbauer headed the IT Planning and Development Division. In this position, she was responsible, among other things, for the preparation and introduction of the electronic case file for patent, utility model and trade mark procedures. During this time, the office set up several horizontal services for all IT systems – such as a digitisation centre, SAP-based electronic payment transactions, a comprehensive statistics system, a central address system and a user directory. With these components, the DPMA took important steps into the digitised world and is now a pioneer in the federal e-government environment.
In 2013, Christine Moosbauer returned to the patent field and for two years, she took over management of a patent division focusing on automotive engineering and driver assistance systems. In 2015, she became Head of the Directorate General “Information”.
Vice-President
Ulrich Deffaa

Since 1 January 2019, Ulrich Deffaa has been Vice-President of the DPMA.
From 1977 to 1982, Ulrich Deffaa studied Law at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich and, after passing his First State Examination in Law, he read Oriental Studies for another four semesters. At the same time, he completed his practical legal training in Munich and Istanbul. After the Second State Examination (1987), he spent a year at the European University Institute in Florence. He was awarded scholarships under the study support programmes of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes and the Bischöfliche Studienförderung Cusanuswerk.
In December 1988, Ulrich Deffaa joined the administrative judiciary of the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia, to which he belonged until October 2010. He was a judge at various administrative courts and at the Münster Higher Administrative Court and dealt with a broad range of public-law matters. At the beginning of his work as a judge, he was seconded for one year to the local government of Minden-Lübbecke, where he held the position of Head of Department.
From 1997 to 1998 and later, from 2007, Ulrich Deffaa was seconded to the Federal Ministry of Justice, where he worked as Deputy Head of a division in the Directorate General – Commercial and Economic Law and in the Directorate General – Central Affairs. After transferring to the Federal administration in March 2013, he assumed the post of Head of Division of Data Protection Law; Law Regarding Federal Statistics, which he held until 31 December 2018. In this function, he was involved in the negotiations for the EU General Data Protection Regulation on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection and, from 2016, in the German legislation implementing the EU General Data Protection Regulation.
Ulrich Deffaa has three adult children and three grandchildren.
Head of the Directorate General Patents and Utility Models
Bernd Maile

Bernd Maile
Born in Bad Cannstatt (Stuttgart), on 26 September 1963, four children
1982 Abitur (university entrance qualification) in Stuttgart
1982 – 1989 studied Physics in Tübingen and Stuttgart
1990 – 1996 postgraduate studies in Economic Sciences at FernUniversität Hagen parallel to his work
1990 – 2000 development engineer, project manager and Head of a manufacturing division (communications engineering and semiconductor sector)
2000 – 2007 patent examiner and group leader of a patent division at the DPMA
2007 – 2013 Technical Judge at the Federal Patent Court
2011 – 2013 Data Protection Officer of the Federal Patent Court and Head of a working group for prospective patent attorneys
Since 2013 member of the examination board for patent attorneys
2013 – 2018 Head of a patent division at the DPMA
Since 1 January 2019 Head of Directorate General 1 “Patents and Utility Models”
Head of the Directorate General Information
Dr Maria Skottke-Klein

Dr Maria Skottke-Klein
Born in Hamburg on 17 March 1960, two sons
1979 Abitur (university entrance qualification) in Tutzing
1979 – 1985 studied chemistry at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich
1986 – 1991 doctorate in science (Dr. rer. nat.) and research fellow at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin
1991 – 1999 patent examiner at a patent division of Directorate General 1; project leader at Directorate General 2
2000 – 2004 Head of section (program management) at Directorate General 2
2004 – 2012 patent examiner, Senior Officer for Classification and Documentation and group leader at a patent division of Directorate General 1
2012 – 2016 Head of a patent division of Directorate General 1
2016 – 2021 Head of a cluster of Directorate General 1
Since 1 April 2021 Head of Directorate General 2 "Information"
Head of the Directorate General Trade Marks and Designs
Barbara Preißner

Barbara Preißner
Born in Hamburg, on 13 July 1957, two sons
1974 Abitur (university entrance qualification) in Hamburg
1975 – 1980 studied Law in Hamburg
1980 – 1983 trainee lawyer in Hamburg, Schleswig–Holstein and Washington, D.C.
1983 – 1989 legal officer in the administrative service of Hansestadt Hamburg, lecturer at the Federal University of Applied Administrative Sciences, Representation of the State of Hamburg to the Federal German government
1989 – 1992 Deputy Head of section and Head of section at the DPMA
1992 – 1996 parental leave
1996 – 2002 senior examiner in the trade mark area at the DPMA
2002 – 2006 Head of a trade mark team at the DPMA
2006 – 2010 Head of a trade mark division at the DPMA, Deputy Head of Department "Trade Marks, Utility Models and Designs"
Since 20 May 2010 Head of Department "Trade Marks, Utility Models and Designs", since 1 March 2015 Head of Directorate General 3 "Trade Marks and Designs"
Head of the Directorate General Administration and Law
Dr. Regina Hock

Dr. Regina Hock
Born in Munich, on 18 January 1963, two daughters
1981 Abitur (university entrance qualification) in Munich
1981 – 1986 studied Law at Ludwig–Maximilians–Universität in Munich, journalism training
1986 – 1989 trainee lawyer in Munich
1989 – 1991 judge at Munich district court (LG München I), press division
1991 – 1992 legal officer at the Bavarian State Chancellery (Bayerische Staatskanzlei), public relations office
1992 – 1993 public prosecutor at Munich district court (LG München I)
1993 doctorate in Law (Dr. jur.)
1994 – 2000 judge at the local court in Munich
2000 – 2010 judge and Head of a section at the Federal Patent Court
Since 24 January 2011 Head of Department "Law", since 1 October 2012 Head of Directorate General 4 "Administration and Law" at the DPMA
Pictures: DPMA
Last updated: 1 April 2021