Marianne Schaffner

Widely regarded as a ‘go-to lawyer’ in Paris for complex litigation, Marianne Schaffner advises major international clients on cross-border patent disputes. With nearly 30 years of experience, she is a recognised trial lawyer in national, pan-European and international patent, trademark and trade secrets disputes across the electronics and telecommunications, pharmaceutical, chemistry and consumer products sectors. 

She regularly appears before French courts, the Unified Patent Court (UPC), the European Patent Office and the European Union Intellectual Property Office.

Schaffner also leads litigation teams in the US, and is particularly familiar with the US litigation system, including discovery, depositions, cross-examination and estoppels. 

Having worked, studied and litigated in France, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and the US, she brings a distinctly international perspective to IP disputes. She is fluent in French, English and German and reads and understands Dutch and Italian.

Schaffner is influential in the IP field not only through her litigation practice but also through her contributions to the development of IP procedure and policy. 

As co-chair of the Evolution and Improvement of French Procedural Rules Committee of the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI), she led a group of practitioners representing seven IP associations and the Paris Bar in preparing the Protocol of Procedure between the Paris IP Judicial Court and the Paris Bar. 

She also teaches patent law in the advanced post master intellectual property programme at the University of Paris and the Polytechnic University of Milan, and has trained UPC technical judges.

She is an active member of leading IP organisations, including AIPPI, the International Trademark Association (INTA), the Licensing Executives Society (LES), Marques, the European Patent Lawyers Association (EPLAW), and the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA).

Schaffner is committed to charitable and community initiatives. In 2025, she ran both the Paris Half Marathon in support of the Institut du Cerveau (Paris Brain Institute) and the Paris Marathon in support of the Gustave Roussy Institute. She is also involved with Sine Qua Non Run, which uses sport to promote women’s empowerment and combat gender-based and sexual violence.