Amongst 11 Austrian IP Lawyers in total, WTR named Constantin Kletzer, Max Mosing and Alexander Schnider as “Global Leaders” in Private Practice”

[GEISTWERT’s] “five innovative founding partners and their diverse personalities” have shaped GEISTWERT into “a ground-breaking Austrian law firm that is virtually unrivalled on the market”. A prime pick for any and all branding matters, the team “has revolutionised the local landscape and acts on innovative cases that have yet to break ground in the courts”. As is evident from the amount of spontaneous feedback it attracts, the 2014-established outfit has worked hard to position itself as a premier destination and its efforts have not gone unnoticed. “It is not easy to impress new clients and convince them to work with you,” comments one foreign associate, “but the GEISTWERT team not only does that – it also carries on performing at an exceptional level day in, day out. Their interest in legal, business and technological developments guarantees innovative solutions to complex problems.”

Two of its stars are Rainer Schultes and Constantin Kletzer, both of whom “are incredibly knowledgeable and easy to work with. They anticipate the needs of clients before they even ask”. “Schultes has a perfect understanding of his field and an excellent approach to IP matters”; while Kletzer is a “fabulous lawyer who easily comprehends the reality of international business”.

As a firm, GEISTWERT received the following MIP IP Stars Firm Rankings 2022:

Patent contentious: Tier 1
Trade mark contentious: Tier 1
Trade mark prosecution: Tier 2
Copyright & related rights: Highly Recommended (only “highly recommended” and “recommended” available)

Gold – Firms: litigation and transactions: “A premier patent litigation firm, GEISTWERT is led by five highly experienced and entrepreneurial partners and a client-oriented team set on achieving their clients’ business goals. Their collaboration is exceptional, both in terms of content and results, and they are always focused and driven in their approach.” The stellar group recently represented TeleTan, the holder of a core patent of authentication processes in online banking, in an infringement claim. “In contentious proceedings relating to software development, Rainer Schultes, Constantin Kletzer and Alexander Schnider are goldmines of information”, and they all brought their A-game to the TeleTan dispute. Also on deck, Max Mosing and Juliane Messner have been working closely with Kletzer on behalf of Österreichische Post, the company responsible for postal service in the country, in technology transfer, licensing and monetisation matters.

Kletzer receives praise for his “reliable, astute and effective collaboration style. His quick wit and engaging manner make him great to work with.”

Constantin Kletzer was named a Patent star 2022 & Trade mark star 2022.

The boutique law firm GEISTWERT covers a broad range of data privacy and data protection issues, ‘pairing legal expertise with a hands-on approach.’ Juliane Messner, Max Mosing, Alexander Schnider, Rainer Schultes and Constantin Kletzer are the practice heads. The team supports clients with GDPR implementation or represents them in proceedings before the data protection authority and in court. The firm employs various legal tech innovations, such as a web-based data-protection-research and management-tool. Messner stands out as ‘an excellent data privacy and data protection lawyer’ together with Mosing a CIS – Certified Data Privacy Officer. Testimonials: “The team is uniquely good professionally. The partners are very sociable and work hand in hand. You always get feedback quickly and the requirements of the business are also taken into account.” “Geistwerts team is pairing legal expertise with a hands-on approach, leaving unnecessary formalities aside and immediately focusing on the relevant parts.” “Juliane Messner and Max Mosing both convinced us with their expertise and their focus on relevant matters.”

The boutique law firm GEISTWERT has a strong team of ‘very skilled and experienced, very focused’ experts – the firm’s founding partners Juliane Messner, Max Mosing, Alexander Schnider, Rainer Schultes and Constantin Kletzer – who work together on IP matters. The practice is diverse, ranging from representing clients in trademark infringement and copyright infringement proceedings to trademark and design portfolio management, or IP due diligence for investments. The legal tech tools developed by the firm play a key supporting role. The team acts for clients from a wide range of sectors that include household name brands and companies, not only within Austria and Europe but also internationally. Testimonials: “The GEISTWERT team is really a pleasure working with! Top client service, excellent work and also great personalities! It is fun working with such friends!” “An extremely engaged team of former “large firm” lawyers who give you first class service at competitive rates and with experienced partners as the primary contacts.” “Constantin Kletzer has an excellent knowledge of IP, he is practical and creative but at the same time very attentive to detail and accuracy in work.”

TMT boutique GEISTWERT excels in advising clients on matters in a host of IT-related projects. Constantin Kletzer, Juliane Messner, Max Mosing, Alexander Schnider and Rainer Schultes are well versed in topics ranging from interactive gaming and data protection to start-ups and outsourcing. Another distinctive feature of the boutique is its dedicated Italy-desk headed by Messner, who is admitted in both Austria and Italy. Testimonials: “The team is uniquely good professionally. The partners are very sociable and work hand in hand. You always get feedback quickly and the requirements of the business are also taken into account.” “Juliane is an excellent lawyer. She is excellent in handling complex IT-projects, not only regarding the content, but also in respect of dealing with deadlines and pushing other project members to keep the timeline. As a client she tells you exactly what to do, when to do it, how to do it and why to do it: crystal clear and to the point. You can feel in every project that she loves her work and she understands your specific business needs.”

Strengths: One satisfied client notes: “The strengths lie in the know-how of the people. They have a very practical approach and can illustrate the facts well. They give many examples, which helps our understanding.” Another client adds: “The whole GEISTWERT team is not only particularly competent, but also very easy to deal with and can be reached quickly. They have very fast response times and give clear answers.”

GEISTWERT is a boutique firm offering dependable expertise in IT and related IP matters. The practice is noted for high-quality work in software contracts and game development. It additionally handles related IP aspects, especially copyright and trade mark matters. GEISTWERT’s further areas of activity include data protection and regulatory advice for tech companies. It is often seen advising technology startups as well as numerous clients in the media, entertainment and electronics industries. The team represents state-owned and private companies on both domestic and multi-jurisdictional matters.

Four GEISTWERT partners were individually ranked again in the Austrian „trend“ Ranking (2021), Max Mosing even twice, namely: Max Mosing for Media Law and Data Protection/Privacy Law, Rainer Schultes for (Unfair) Competition Law, Constantin Kletzer for Trademark-, Copyright- and Patent-Law and Julia Messner for her start-up advisory services.

IP, IT and TMT boutique firm GEISTWERT fields five dedicated partners with a strong focus on patent and trade mark litigation, design law and copyright law. In terms of patent litigation, the team is particularly adept at representing clients in the biochemistry, biotech, chemistry and pharmaceutical industries. The group also has notable strength in trade mark portfolio management and makes use of its own legal tech applications to facilitate such projects. Founding partners Constantin Kletzer, Juliane Messner, Max Mosing, Alexander Schnider and Rainer Schultes are the key names. Testimonials: “GEISTWERT is the coolest IP/IT law firm in Austria. With 5 partners handling all matters by themselves, you get a unique think tank and one or more lawyers handling your agendas with great experience, not only from a legal but also from a business perspective. In contrast to firms using (senior) associates, salary partners and other staff who are not entrepreneurs themselves, this is priceless for me.”; “Very nice good and pragmatic people, not very old-fashioned Austrian. Very informal good advice for international clients.”; “Alexander Schnider continues to impress since the day we started working together. Alexander’s most important strength is that he does not only know all the legal details and case law about Austrian IP and IT matters, but more importantly also the video game business as such and therefore, most importantly, also the positions and desires of the stakeholders in the industry and thus also of our contract partners. This is tremendously helpful when negotiating contracts as you simply cannot achieve the best results when you don’t know about the business goals and needs of the companies that are involved in a video game deal.” Constantin Kletzer, Max Mosing and Rainer Schultes are explicitly mentioned as “Leading Individuals” in IP.

TMT, IP and data privacy boutique GEISTWERT has a strong track record in data protection that extends beyond the introduction of GDPR. Jointly led by Juliane Messner, Max Mosing, Alexander Schnider, Rainer Schultes and Constantin Kletzer, the practice is particularly experienced in advising finance, pharmaceutical and life sciences clients. To assist with GDPR implementation, the firm is able to call on its home-grown GDPR-tool. The fully bilingual and dual-qualified Messner is also in charge of the dedicated Italy desk, and Mosing is a CIS-certified Data Privacy Officer. Testimonials: “Communication is fast, competent and uncomplicated is probably the “secret of success” for GEISTWERT on the Austrian market. It is undoubtedly unique in Austria that so many partners in a law firm can serve the same area of law at such a high level – really a pleasure working with the GEISTWERT team”; “All partners are easy to reach, competent, uncomplicated and have at least basic knowledge of the projects of the other partners. That is definitely unique in Austria.” Juliane Messner is explicitly mentioned as “Leading Individual” in Data Privacy And Data Protection.