Dr.-Ing. Martin Dropmann

German Patent Attorney, European Patent Attorney

dropmann@grunecker.de     S/MIME

+49 (0) 221 949 72 20

Office: Cologne

Languages: German, English

Expertise

Martin Dropmann has been a patent attorney for several decades, providing comprehensive consulting services for medium-sized companies across all aspects of intellectual property. With extensive experience, he evaluates innovations for their potential to establish a monopoly and advises on developing international strategies for obtaining patents and designs. This includes thorough searches for conflicting rights and devising strategies to facilitate the market launch of innovations, ensuring freedom from third-party IP rights both domestically and internationally; in this endeavour, he collaborates closely with fellow attorneys abroad.

For multinational corporations, Martin primarily handles proceedings to secure optimal protection through patents or invalidate corresponding third-party rights before the German Patent and Trademark Office and the European Patent Office.

Passionately advocating for our client’s positions in infringement or validity proceedings concerning technical property rights, including cases before the German Federal Court of Justice (BGH), Martin also engages in activities at industrial trade fairs. Here, he swiftly and effectively implements attack and defence strategies pertaining to claims of registered protection rights and resulting from competition law. He enjoys collaborating with colleagues in the firm having legal background for synergistically leveraging the legal and technical expertise to benefit our clients.

Martin’s expertise in employee invention law is founded on years of consulting experience.

His background in mechanical engineering studies at the RWTH, coupled with a doctorate in materials science, equips him to offer comprehensive advice across all technical domains of mechanical engineering and materials science. Through extensive consulting work, he has also developed profound technical insights into electrical engineering, particularly within electromobility.

Martin is a member of FICPI, GRUR, and AIPLA.

Areas

  • Patent Law
  • Patent Infringement
  • Designs

 

Technical fields

  • Medical technology
  • Automotive industry
  • Steel industry
  • Drive technology
  • Consumer goods
  • Nanotechnology

Vita

  • Rhenish-Westphalian Technical University Aachen: Diploma in mechanical engineering, 1989
  • Doctorate, 1993
  • Research on biomedical engineering at the University of Utah, USA
  • Research on plastics engineering and materials science at Penn State University, USA and at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA
  • Partner at Grünecker, since 1998

Awards & Rankings

Leading Patent Attorney in his field, Handelsblatt and Best Lawyers, 2024 edition

Core Attorney – Patent Law – Litigation (Tier 2)
“(…) Martin Dropmann (mechanical engineering, medical technology, among other things), (…) are part of the core team.”, Legal500, 2023

Leading Patent Attorney in his field, Handelsblatt and Best Lawyers, 2025 edition