Maiwald, one of Germany’s leading intellectual property law firms, has appointed Dr Naho Fujimoto as managing partner with effect from 1 January 2022.
Dr Fujimoto advises and represents pharmaceutical and chemical companies in patent prosecution proceedings worldwide, mainly in the fields of polymer chemistry and formulation technology. The main emphasis of her work is on European patent applications, but her remit also includes the management of complex, global patent families and portfolios, from the drafting of the application to the grant procedure and post-grant activities. A chemist by training, she has extensive experience in developing patent prosecution strategies and provides support and advice to clients in product-related projects at the development phase as well as in negotiations. This includes for instance, conducting prior art searches and preparing freedom-to-operate and validity opinions as well as monitoring competitors and opposition proceedings.
Dr Fujimoto studied chemistry at the University of Hamburg and obtained her doctorate in the field of organic chemistry. In 2012 and 2013, she worked as a patent attorney trainee with a French IP firm in Paris before joining Maiwald as a patent attorney trainee in 2013. Since completing her training in 2015, Dr Fujimoto has worked as a patent attorney at Maiwald, becoming a partner in 2019. Dr Fujimoto is one of the very small number of Japanese patent attorneys with German and European admissions. She was admitted as a European patent attorney in 2015 and as a German patent attorney in 2016.
As a Japanese born and raised in Germany, in addition to Japanese and German as mother tongue Dr Fujimoto also speaks fluent English and French.
“With her diverse linguistic and cultural background and her enormous professional expertise, Dr Fujimoto plays a key role in Maiwald’s business development plans for Japan, which thanks to her support have already shown great success and continue to thrive. We are very pleased that Naho has joined our team of partners and managing directors. We wish her all the best in her new role”, says Dr Martin Huenges, Partner at Maiwald.
