Our People - Moetteli & Associés SàRL
Moetteli & Associés SàRL is a Swiss-based international patent firm specializing in US patent, trademark and copyright law as well as European and international registration of such rights.
Moetteli & Associés is among the first intellectual property firms to be established in Europe with a primary focus on US intellectual property law.
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| left-right: Sharon Gobat, John Moetteli, Sherman D. Pernia, Novella Moetteli-Mantelli |
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 John Moetteli Esq.
Founder
For about sixteen years, John Moetteli has been a practicing patent practitioner/attorney-at-law, licensed before the US Patent Office--he's also admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the District of Columbia Bar (Washington DC), as well as his home state bar. Further, he's a registered Professional Engineer, currently on inactive status. Since 1997, Mr. Moetteli has been based in Europe and has represented individuals as well as U.S., European and Asian corporations, both small and large, before the US and International patent and trademark authorities. He holds an Engineering degree, a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree, and a Masters in International Management (with emphasis on Doing Business in China). In addition, he’s followed courses on Chinese Patent Law, including co-editing a well known manual on industrial property. His technical specialty is mechanical, IT, software, medical devices, and sports products. He is particularly specialized in preparing freedom to operate, invalidity and unenforceability opinions on US patents, as well as preparing US and International patent and trademark applications.
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Mr. Moetteli is a member of the Association of International Business Lawyers (AIBL), the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), and the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI). He's been inducted into the Order of the Barons and Order of the Coif, well-known honorary legal fraternities. He's also the founder of the North American Attorney's Association in Geneva and is a former member of the managing committee for the Association of International Business Lawyers. He serves from time to time as IMD faculty for the Program for Executive Development (PED). He's published several articles on the subject of intellectual property law as well.
Prior to moving to Switzerland, Mr. Moetteli worked in the intellectual property section of Haynes & Boone LLP, a large general litigation firm with offices in Texas, Washington D.C. and Mexico City . He earned his Doctor of Jurisprudence magna cum laude from the University of Houston Law Center, a highly ranked law school. Prior to his experience with Haynes & Boone, Mr. Moetteli worked at NASA where his
responsibilities included technology management. During this time, his work was featured on the Discovery Channel's Invention Series cable television program.
Mr. Moetteli’s mother tongue is English, but he is also fluent in French and German.
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 Sherman D. Pernia, Ph.D., J.D
Sherman Pernia is a licensed attorney-at-law (Texas), and registered as a Patent Agent before the US Patent & Trademark Office. Dr. Pernia specializes in the biomed and electronic patent filings handled by the firm. He has experience working with academic departments and small businesses to identify programs or products embodying technologies ripe for commercial development and in the development and implementation of mechanisms for the protection, further R&D and commercialization of these properties. His work has facilitated transferring technologies out of the laboratory and into the commercial arena, and has thus involved patenting, funding development, marketing and negotiating proprietary rights, joint ventures and preparing licensing agreements to commercialize proprietary technologies.
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From 1991 to 1993, Dr. Pernia worked as a Patent Agent with Fulbright & Jaworski, L.L.P. in Houston, Texas, providing patent prosecution support to the firm’s intellectual property section, particularly in the biomed/biotechnology and related fields.
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 Erhard Krumpholz
Erhard Krumpholz holds a Masters in Applied Physics (Electronics & Photonics), Rose Hulman Institute of Technology (USA), Bachelor of Science in Physics, University of Stuttgart (Germany) and was a Fulbright scholar. He is a Swiss patent attorney with eight years experience with the Patent Department of Bühler AG in Uzwil (Switzerland) and further experience working with firms such as Bardehle & Partners in Munich. He has extensive experience in filing and prosecuting patent applications, and managing IP portfolios for business units of a large corporation as well as for startups. Although his mother tongue is German, he is adept at drafting patent applications in English, German or French, in particular in the fields of process technology, including food processing, food chemistry and functional food as well as solid-state electronic and photonic devices.
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 Novella Moetteli-Mantelli
Ms. Moetteli - Mantelli is a licensed Swiss attorney-at-law registered as a legal representative before the European Patent Office. She earned her Law degree from the University of Geneva. Prior to joining the firm, she worked for the Swiss Federal Banking Commission in Berne, in the department for the authorization of banks, securities dealers and investment funds. She has litigation experience and spent several months as a clerk for the Court of Appeals in Geneva. Her keen interest in Trademark Law, particularly International trademark law, English and German language skills, as well as the fact that French is her mother-tongue, make her a valuable firm asset, particularly for international trademark prosecution that must be conducted in French for our Swiss clients.
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 Sharon Gobat, M.S., J.D.
We are proud to announce that Sharon Gobat, has joined our firm, of counsel. Ms. Gobat earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence and M.A. and B.A. in Biology (University of California and Wellesley College), is registered to practice before the US Patent & Trademark Office and is a member of the Massachusetts Bar. She specializes in international trademark strategies, particularly in the fields of pharmaceuticals, healthcare and life sciences. She is also active in supporting our biomedical patent clients. Previously, Ms. Gobat served as director of legal services for a global branding agency, assisting clients in the selection, clearance and exploitation of trademarks worldwide.
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 Jasmin Hug
Jasmin Hug has been with Moetteli & Associés since 2005 and handles correspondence and administrative matters with clients and intellectual property offices. She also supervises deadlines and is responsible for our payments. She is Swiss, born and raised near Zurich. She speaks fluent English, French, Spanish and Portuguese and is currently learning Chinese.
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 Robin Sägewitz
Robin Sägewitz joined our team in May 2009 as client representative and project manager, responsible especially for local clients in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. He has a technical degree in plastic technology and a good knowledge about industry in general. In addition he has hands-on experience with Chinese industry, and can therefore help clients who intend to outsource their production of inventions overseas. He is born and raised in Switzerland (Rheintal) and speaks fluent German and English.
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 Sonja Hodel
Sonja Hodel has been with Moetteli & Associés since our founding and helps management ensure that the books are properly maintained and that accounts receivable and payable function well.
She is Swiss, born and raised in Basel, and speaks fluent German, French and English.
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 Nathan Martyn
Nathan Martyn, an Australian software developer, is responsible for the online presence of Moetteli & Associés SàRL. As the company expands, use of the Internet to promote services and attract new clients is becoming an important goal for the firm. Nathan is a honors computer science graduate of La Trobe University (Bendigo) with years of experience working as a software developer, web master and business manager. He brings great value to the firm.
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Dipl. Ing. Sava Kulhavy (retired) |
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 Sava Kulhavy
Mr. Kulhavy is an experienced European Patent Attorney. He was the founder and former owner of one of the established, St. Gallen –based patent firms, the assets of which MOETTELI & Associés SàRL purchased in 2008. He is retired and writes in the IP field.
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