New strength
and enormous potential
as a member
of the IPS Irsch Group
Who Are We?
G&A IP AG is an independent patent and trademark law firm.
You invent, we protect – to safeguard and enhance your competitiveness.
Protect your innovation against imitation! Protection enables you to set yourself apart from your competition and prohibit others from using your intellectual property. It also stops competitors protecting your innovation for themselves. Your protected innovations and creations are a tradeable asset which you can sell or licence.
Our team of highly qualified specialists have a wealth of expertise and specialist knowledge both of intellectual property and in various technical fields, most notably mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, chemistry and biotechnology. We draw on these skills to help innovative businesses and individual inventors develop effective strategies for protecting their intellectual property, anywhere in the world.
Our Expertise.
Patents
protect your technical innovations.
Trademarks
distinguish your products and enhance their image.
Design
protects the creative new design (external appearance) of your products.
IPS Irsch Group.
Background
We have proven ourselves in both the national and international market over many years and have advanced our patent law firms through organic growth. The individuality of the separate companies stands front and center, while their solidarity with each other gives additional strength to the whole. We will use this to the benefit of our clients. We firmly believe that a regional alignment based on established roots in the local area meets the growing needs of our clients.
Values
The personality and integrity of our staff are valued highly in our companies alongside our requirements of their specialist qualifications. We assign great importance to an inspiring and appreciative staff and corporate culture and have, as a group, committed ourselves to acting sustainably and responsibly. In doing so we have laid the foundation for a relationship with our clients that is based on trust and cooperation.
Pioneer Position
The outstanding standard of our infrastructures, including the IT system that was announced back in 2013 and has since been fully integrated, are central factors in our ability to provide high quality services. That has put us well ahead of many of our competitors, allowing us to deliver consistent improvements in efficiency and significant advancements in data security. What is more, this foundation has enabled us to better prepare for unforeseen events such as the coronavirus pandemic and to overcome the additional challenges while maintaining a consistently high standard.
Flexibility and Strength
As a corproate group, we can also enhance security and flexibility and tap into the considerable synergy potential available through the across-the-board use of services and resources. The fact that our patent attorneys come from a range of natural scientific specialisms such as physics, chemistry, biology and actively engage in exchanges about areas of interest beyond their specialist fields additionally enhances the benefits for our clients.
Focus on Customers‘ Benefit
It is our belief that a personal relationship with clients, cooperation with the same contacts over many years, and ethically responsible and sustainable actions in the market will become even more important in the future. We share these values and will preserve them for the benefit of our clients and our companies.
Learn more about the IPS Irsch Group.
Our Team.
Dominik Hierling
Managing Director
Dr Dominik Hierling is CEO of G&A IP AG and a member of the Board of Directors. Dr Hierling studied physics at the University of Konstanz (DE) and obtained his doctorate in the field of cluster physics. As part of his dissertation, he worked on the analysis of self-organised structures as well as the controlled growth of nanoparticles and clusters on surfaces. He also analysed clusters in the gas phase using a newly developed time-of-flight spectrometer at the Swiss Light Source at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Villigen (AG). Dr Hierling joined the IPS Irsch Group in 2022, thus expanding the technical expertise of the IPS team with his excellent knowledge in the field of physics.
Dr Hierling took over the CEO position of G&A IP AG from Dr Manfred Irsch in 2024.
Max Bolliger
Business Economist
President of the Board of Directors
Head of Human Resources
+41 52 511 38 70
Max Bolliger
President of the Board of Directors
Max Bolliger is also Head of Human Resources at G&A IP AG and as owner of the Bolliger & Partner Internationale Treuhänder GmbH audit company he is responsible for controlling at G&A IP AG.
Manfred Irsch
Dr. rer. nat., Dipl. Phys.
Head of Corporate Development
European and Swiss patent attorney
+41 52 511 38 70
Manfred Irsch
Head of Corporate Development
Dr. Manfred Irsch is Member of the Board of Directors and Head of Corporate Development of the G&A IP 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). Manfred Irsch is founder of the IPS Irsch Group and CEO of IPS Irsch AG.
Erik Brück
Chemist (B. Sc.)
Member of Executive Board
European and Swiss patent attorney
+41 52 511 38 70
Erik Brück
Member of the Executive Board
Erik Brück is responsible for all aspects of digitalization and administration at G&A IP AG 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 Irsch Group`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.
Magdalena Irsch
Head of Translation
Mrs. Irsch is a member of the Executive Board of IPS Irsch Group. Additionally, she is the head of the translation department at G&A IP AG.
Samuel Gernet
Dr. sc. nat., Dipl. Phys. ETH
Senior Consultant
European and Swiss patent attorney
+41 52 511 38 70
Samuel Gernet
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 particular experience in trademark and design law and all related proceedings. From June 2010 until the end of 2019, Samuel Gernet headed the the IP Profitcenter of Suisse Technology Partners AG. From January 2020 until April 2021, Samuel Gernet was working 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 as Senior Consultant a wide range of industrial companies, SMEs and individual inventors from Switzerland and abroad before the European Patent Office (EPO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Institute of Intellectual Property (IGE).
Samuel Gernet speaks German, English and French.
Laura-Maria Zamai
Head Administration
Formalities Officer – patents,
trademarks, designs
+41 52 511 38 70
Laura-Maria Zamai
Paralegal
Since May 2021, Laura Zamai has led the G&A IP AGs team for patent, trademark and design administration.
Ms. Zamai is also a member of the board of directors of G&A and head of the entire administration of the IPS Irsch Group in her role as Principal of Administration of IPS Irsch Group.
Remo Cadalbert
IT Consultant
responsible for hardware and software
support as well as networks.
+41 52 511 38 70
Remo Cadalbert
IT Consultant
Remo Cadalbert has worked as IT Consultant since April 2021 and is responsible for hardware and software support as well as networks.
Organigram
Patents.
Thomas A. Edison
Patent
(noun)
pat(ə)nt
A patent is an industrial property right issued by the government. With a patent, you can prevent others from making commercial use of your innovation.
The scenario
You have developed something and want to legally protect your invention.
A third party is using your patented invention in a product and selling it, so you want to put an immediate stop to that party's business practices. You want to prevent them from using it or, at the very least, issue a licence.
Our service
First, we assess the patentability of your invention and guide you along the legally complex route to obtaining a patent. This involves drafting and submitting applications and conducting examination and opposition proceedings. We also maintain and enforce your existing patent rights and assist you in patent invalidation and infringement cases. For national patent applications and disputes, we have access to a reliable global network of national patent attorneys.
We draft any licence and joint development agreements in close consultation with you, review them and represent your interests in dealings with third parties.
Trademarks.
Alexander Deichsel
Trademark
(noun)
treɪdmɑːk
A trademark identifies the commercial origin of your products and services. A trademark is a symbol of the quality of your products and services and is an important asset. It is one of the keys to sustainable business development.
The scenario
You already have a trademark portfolio or are starting afresh with a new trademark. A third party approaches you with a warning, asking you to cancel your trademark.
It has come to your attention that somebody is using a trademark similar to yours and you want them to desist.
Our service
We comprehensively assist you with the preliminary legal investigations, the application and, if necessary, the defence of your trademark vis-à-vis the trademark Office or against third parties.
For national trademark applications and disputes, we have access to a global and reliable network of national associate attorneys.
Additionally, we monitor the renewal deadlines on your behalf and, when necessary, notify you of conflicts between your trademark and younger, confusingly similar trademarks.
We draft any licence and delimitation agreements in close consultation with you, review them and represent your interests in dealings with third parties.
Designs.
Dieter Rams
Design
(noun)
dɪˈzʌɪn
Designs protect a product's visual features. Both surface designs, such as fabric patterns or bottle labels, and forms, such as watches, lamps or chairs, can be protected.
The scenario
Your product, which has an original appearance, is being imitated by third parties and you want to prevent this.
You receive a warning, asking you to alter your new design for a product.
Our service
We comprehensively assist you with the preliminary legal investigations, the application and, if it comes to this, the defence of your design. For design applications and disputes abroad, we have access to a global network of national associate attorneys.
We also maintain the design protection for you.
We draft any licence agreements in close consultation with you, review them and represent your interests in dealings with third parties.
What challenge are you facing?
look after your portfolio or represent you in court.
Gernet Althaus IP AG
Gewerbestrasse 8
CH-8212 Neuhausen
info@ga-ip.ch
+41 52 511 38 70
LinkedIn IPS Irsch Group