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President

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The Court is represented by the President of the Court of Appeal who acts as chairperson of the Presidium.

The President is elected by all judges of the Court of Appeal for a term of three years by secret ballot. The President may be re-elected twice.

The President directs the judicial activities and the administration of the Court of Appeal and chairs the Court of Appeal sitting as a full court.

Education and professional experience


Klaus Grabinski studied law at the Universities of Trier, Geneva and Cologne. He passed the 1st and 2nd state examination in 1988 and 1992. He was a university assistant and received a Doctor Iuris from Trier University in 1991.

He served on the German Federal Court of Justice’s 10th Civil Division, including as the Deputy Presiding Justice of the Division that has, inter alia, jurisdiction on patent litigation matters.

Before joining the German Federal Court of Justice in 2009, he held a number of judicial roles, including as a presiding judge of a patent litigation division at the Düsseldorf Regional Court and as a judge at the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court.

He was an external legally qualified member of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office.

Since November 2022, Klaus Grabinski serves as President of the Court of Appeal and chairperson of the Presidium of the Unified Patent Court.