Dr. Philipp Müller

Qualification:

• German Patent Attorney

• European Patent Attorney

• European Trade Mark & Design Attorney

• Registered Representative before the Unified Patent Court

• PhD in the field of Micro-optical systems, in particular tunable optofluidic systems, Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK), Albert Ludwig University Freiburg

Overview:

Dr. Philipp Müller has been with Maucher Jenkins since 2015. He qualified as a German Patent Attorney in mid-2019, as a European Trade Mark and Design Attorney in 2020, and as a European Patent Attorney in 2021.

Prior to joining Maucher Jenkins, Philipp Müller worked as an R&D engineer and project manager for a supplier to internationally leading OEMs in the field of optical sensing technology. He studied Microsystems Engineering and graduated as a Diplom-Ingenieur (Dipl.-Ing.) in 2008. He subsequently completed his doctorate with distinction in 2012, focusing on optofluidics, at the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) at the University of Freiburg. Following his PhD, he led a research group working, among other topics, on elastomer optics and novel thermo-actuation concepts. He therefore has extensive technical expertise in micro-optics and in the mass production of microsystems using cleanroom processes.

Philipp Müller regularly advises university spin-offs as well as established mid-sized companies on protecting new products through patents and other intellectual property rights, entering new technology fields, and cooperating with start-ups. His clients’ technical fields range from mechanical engineering, elevator technology, optics, electrical engineering, photovoltaics, medical technology and laboratory technology, through to AI- and software-based inventions.

Developing patent filing strategies and supporting companies in bringing new technologies to market form a core part of his advisory work. In doing so, Philipp Müller places particular emphasis on working closely with clients to identify those technical details that genuinely secure competitive advantages and form the foundation of a successful patent portfolio. This also includes identifying technical design-around solutions to existing competitor patents, as well as determining features that enable patent protection of an invention despite a strong prior-art landscape.

He advises on national and international patent prosecution proceedings, trade mark and design filings, and represents clients in oral proceedings before opposition divisions, in appeal proceedings, and in patent infringement disputes.

Dr. Philipp Müller has been ranked by Managing Intellectual Property as a Rising Star for 2023, 2024 and 2025.

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Interests outside work:

Philipp enjoys time on his racing and mountain bikes, as well as running or Telemark skiing in the Black Forest.

Publications:

Book chapter:

‘Optofluidic micro-shutters and micro-irises’; Tunable Micro-optics. Tracing Nature’s Vision, Müller, Philipp, Cambridge University Press 2016, edited by Claudia Dupp´e and Hans Zappe.

Articles in specialist magazines:

‘Variable optofluidic slit aperture’. Light: Science and Applications,  article in press since 23 August, 2015, Schuhladen, Stefan, Kaustubh Banerjee, Moritz Stürmer, Philipp Müller, Ulrike Wallrabe, and Hans Zappe.

‘Smart artificial muscle actuators: Liquid Crystal Elastomers with integrated temperature feedback’. Sensors and Actuators A:  231:44–51, 2015, Physical, Petsch, Sebastian, Richard Rix, Bilal Khatri, Stefan Schuhladen, Philipp Müller, Rudolf Zentel, and Hans Zappe.

‘Optofluidic router based on tunable liquid-liquid mirrors’. Lab Chip, 14(4):737 – 743, 2014, Müller, Philipp, Daniel Kopp, Andreu Llobera, and Hans Zappe.

‘Integrated optofluidic iris’. Journal of Microelectro-mechanical Systems, 21(5):1156–1164, 2012, Müller, Philipp, Roland Feuerstein, and Hans Zappe.

‘A fully integrated optofluidic attenuator’. Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, 21(12):125027–125040, 2011. Müller, Philipp, Anton Kloss, Peter Liebetraut, Wolfgang Mönch, and Hans Zappe.

‘On-the-fly writing of a long grating phase mask’. Optical Engineering, 50(3):038001 (9pp), 2011. Müller, Philipp, Yves Jourlin, Colette Veillas, Gérard Bernaud, Yannick Bourgin, and Svetlen Tonchev.

‘An optofluidic concept for a tunable micro-iris’. Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, 19(6):1477–1484, 2010.
Müller, Philipp, Nils Spengler, Hans Zappe, and Wolfgang Mönch.