Marianne Schaffner

Often leading the litigation teams in both Europe and the US, ensuring full coordination of the teams and consistent court filings and coordinate Patent Oppositions before the European Patent Office. Particularly familiar with the US litigation system (discovery, depositions, cross-examination, and estoppels notably) as well as with the expertise that is required litigating in both Europe and the US.

Knowledgeable of the French, UK, German, Dutch, Italian and Belgian litigation systems as well as the UPC, Marianne has worked/studied and litigated in France, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and the US and before the UPC. She is fluent in French, English and German and reads and understands Dutch and Italian.

As co-chair of the Evolution and improvement of French procedural rules Committee of the AIPPI, she has led a group of practitioners of 7 IP associations and representative of the Paris to prepare a Protocol of Procedure between the IP Paris Judicial Court and the Paris bar in July 2023 and its revision in December 2024 and the current 2026 revision. She has taken part with the Ministry of Justice in the French group led by Malik Chapuis in the drafting of the rules of mediation and the rules of arbitration of the Patent Mediation and Arbitration Centre of the UPC. As professor in the Advanced Post Master Intellectual Property at the University of Paris and Polytechnic University of Milan, she lectures Patent law. She has also trained the UPC technical judges.

Marianne has been ranked by Chambers Global and Chambers Europe, by Legal 500 and listed in Who's Who Legal Patent and Who's Who Legal France since 2007.

Membership: AIPPI (co-chair of the evolution of procedural practices' commission), INTA (leadership committee member), LES, MARQUES, EPLAW, APEB, AAPI, AIPLA

Key achievements

Marianne is very committed to the teams' sporting involvement. On March 9, 2025, she has run the Paris Half Marathon in support of the Institut du Cerveau – Paris Brain Institute. On April 13, 2025, she ran Paris Marathon in support of the Gustave Roussy Institute. She is also involved with "Sine qua non run", an association that uses sport to boost women's empowerment and mobilize everyone against gender-based and sexual violence. She is also in charge of the Paris Gowling Gives programme which helps to guide, support, innovate, organise and enthuse our fundraising efforts and do good things for charities and community groups. She is the pro bono partner in Paris.