Team

Dr. Manfred Irsch is President of the Board of Directors and chairs the Executive Board (CEO) of the IPS Irsch AG. He is a European patent attorney and Swiss patent and trademark attorney who studied physics, specializing in solid-state physics, and was awarded the degree of Dr. rer. nat. at Faculty II of Natural Sciences and Technology for Physics and Electrical Engineering at Saarland University in Saarbrücken, Germany. His research focused on the cultivation of monocrystalline materials and the examination of phase transformations, primarily using nuclear magnetic resonance, ultrasound and thermal methods. In 2001 Manfred Irsch joined Sulzer Management AG in Winterthur and shifted his focus to intellectual property law. As the deputy head of Sulzer’s patent department until the end of 2013, he was responsible for assisting and representing Sulzer Management AG’s internal and external clients worldwide in matters concerning all aspects of intellectual property law. In spring 2013 Manfred Irsch expanded the private clients business he had launched in 2005 by founding Intellectual Property Services GmbH (IPS). Since 2014, he has dedicated himself entirely to IPS clients in his role as Managing Director and, since May 2021, as Chairman of the Board of Directors of IPS Irsch AG.

Mrs. Irsch is a member of the Executive Board of IPS Irsch AG. Additionally, she is the head of the translation department at IPS.

Erik Brück is responsible for all aspects of digitalization and administration at IPS as a member of the Executive Board and in his capacity as Chief Digital Officer (CDO). He studied chemistry at Saarland University (DE). In his bachelor’s degree dissertation entitled “Incorporation of silicon-silicon double bonds into π-conjugated organic systems” at the Krupp Chair of General and Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Saarland, Erik Brück dealt with the synthesis of compounds with conjugated π systems between carbon and silicon and their interaction with light. After completing his degree in chemistry, Erik Brück joined IPS in February 2017 in Frauenfeld (Switzerland) to begin the training to become a European Patent Attorney and a Swiss Patent Attorney, thus expanding the IPS Team's technical expertise with his excellent knowledge in the field of inorganic and organic chemistry and now as a European Patent Attorney since earning his certification.

As Deputy Executive Officer (DEO), Erik Brück has also been Dr Manfred Irsch's official deputy since January 2023.

After his vocational training as an electronics engineer and a university degree in geodesy and civil engineering at the ETH Zurich, Pius Kuster worked as a research associate at the Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology (VAW). The focus of his work lay in hydraulic model testing and an investigation into the flow resistance behaviours exerted by riparian woodlands. He then joined Leica-Geosystems where he worked on the development of high-precision monitoring systems and the GPS-based control of construction machinery. After completing his postgraduate studies in Intellectual Property at the ETH Zurich in 2003, he joined the Patent Section at Roche Diabetes Care, Burgdorf. In addition to carrying out the customary work in an industrial patent department, he oversaw extensive freedom-to-operate projects for fluid delivery systems. Working as a patent attorney, Pius Kuster has bolstered the IPS team since November 2017.

Max Bolliger is a member of the IPS Executive Board in his capacity as authorized signatory and head of the personnel department. As owner of the Bolliger & Partner Internationale Treuhänder GmbH audit company he is responsible for controlling at IPS.

Dr. Samuel Gernet works as a patent attorney with a focus on mechanics, electrical engineering, thin film technology, materials and packaging technology. Dr. Samuel Gernet was born in Lucerne and studied physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. He completed his diploma thesis in plastics physics. He obtained his doctorate at the Institut de Microtechnique in Neuchâtel in the field of subcutaneously implantable glucose sensors. This was followed by several years in the development of microelectronic components for interconnection technology, after which he trained as a patent attorney in an industrial patent department. This was followed by several years as a patent attorney in various industrial companies (electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, medical technology) and as an employee in a patent law firm. Samuel Gernet also gained specific experience in trademark and design law and all related proceedings. From June 2010 until the end of 2019, Samuel Gernet headed the the IP Profit-Center of Suisse Technology Partners AG. From January 2020 until April 2021, Samuel Gernet worked as a patent and trademark attorney with Gernet Althaus IP AG. Since April 2021 Samuel Gernet has been working as Senior Consultant for IPS Irsch AG and Gernet Althaus IP AG. There he represents a wide range of industrial companies, SMEs and individual inventors from Switzerland and abroad as Senior Consultant before the European Patent Office (EPO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Institute of Intellectual Property (IGE).

Hansjörg Kley graduated from the HTL Burgdorf as El. Eng. HTL in power engineering. He then studied at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), graduating with a degree in mathematics with informatics as additional subject. From 1979 to 1980, Hansjörg Kley was a patent examiner at BAGE (now IGE), after which he worked in various functions at Siemens Albis Aktiengesellschaft (now Siemens Schweiz AG). From 1998 to 2014, he was responsible for a large number of patent, trademark and design proceedings for various Siemens companies in Europe and the USA in the patent and trademark department of Siemens Schweiz AG. During this time, he also advised on several significant M&A and carve-out projects at Siemens Schweiz AG from an intellectual property perspective.

Hansjörg Kley is a member of the Swiss Association of Industrial Patent Attorneys VIPS and has been a council member of the European Patent Institute epi since 2011.

Since May 1, 2014, Hansjörg Kley has been advising various clients in IP matters as well as continuing to advise on individual proceedings of Siemens companies. Since 2015, Hansjörg Kley has been working as a Senior Consultant for IPS Irsch.

Paul Furtwängler is currently training to become a European and Swiss patent attorney at IPS. He studied biology and philosophy at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen (DE). As part of his master's thesis, he worked on allometric comparisons of animal metabolic pathways at the Institute for Evolution and Ecology at the University of Tübingen.

After completing his master's degree, Paul Furtwängler enrolled at the Open University in Milton Keynes (GB) and acquired a scientifically broad, general Bachelor of Science degree.

In 2021 he joined IPS in Frauenfeld (Switzerland), and with his excellent knowledge in the field of biology, he expands the technical skills of the IPS team.

Vivienne Augustin is currently doing an internship at IPS Irsch AG to get to know the profession of a patent attorney better. She will be part of our team from 01.04.2022 to 31.08.2022. In February she finished her bachelor studies in Mechanical Engineering at the ETH Zurich.

During her bachelor thesis, she worked on the topic of numerical methods to analyze the impact of trees on urban climate. Her focus during her bachelor studies was on energy engineering and fluid mechanics, as well as processes.

After the internship she will start a master study at ETH and focus further on the above-mentioned topics.

Dr. Dominik Hierling is currently training to become a European and Swiss Patent attorney with the IPS Irsch AG. He studied physics at the university of Constance (DE) and earned his doctorate in the field of cluster-physics in the working-group of Prof. Dr. Gerd Ganteför. Over the course of his dissertation, he worked on the analysis of self-organized structures such as the controlled growth of nano-particles and clusters on surfaces. He also analyzed clusters in the gaseous phase using a newly developed time-of-flight spectrometer with Swiss Light Source (SLS) at the Paul-Scherrer Institute in Villigen (CH).

In 2022 he transferred to the IPS Irsch AG in Frauenfeld (CH) and is thus adding to the technical competences of the IPS team with his excellent knowledge in the field of physics.

Ms Zamai has been part of the IPS team since November 2018 and is primarily involved in trademark and patent administration. On January 1, 2020, Ms. Zamai initially took over the deputy management of the secretariat (Head of Administration) within the IPS team and, since January 2021, the full management. Ms. Zamai is also a member of the board of directors of IPS Irsch AG and also manages the entire administration of the IPS Irsch Group in her role as Principal of Administration. 

Remo Cadalbert has worked in Erik Brück’s department since November 2017 as Head of IT with responsibility for hardware and software support and networks.

Ms Pangdatshang completed an apprenticeship at Sulzer AG and went on to work in their patents department. She has been assisting the IPS team with patent and design administration since February 2014.

Ms. Brück studied English: Linguistics, Literature and Cultures as well as Comparative Linguistics, Literature Studies and Translation at the University of the Saarland. She interned with the IPS Irsch AG from December 2021 to February 2022 as a translator and has been supporting the IPS Team since June 2022 in administrative duties and translations.