Michael FRÖHLICHa national of Germany, is Senior Director, EU Intellectual Property & Strategy, at Research In Motion (RIM) the maker of the BlackBerry®. Michael has practised as an Attorney-at-Law for several years at the Düsseldorf office of Preu Bohlig & Partner in the fields of contentious and pre-contentious matters in all areas of Intellectual Property Rights, with a particular focus on patents. Michael shows also work experience in Brazil, where he was active for the IP-specialised law firm Dannemann Siemsen Bigler & Ipanema Moreira. Michael further acted as the Legal Affairs Director at the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). Prior to joining Research In Motion, he was in charge of defining, driving and representing Nokia's IPR position for various wireless technology and content related standardization activities.

Michael is Chairman of the AIPPI Special Committee on “Patents and Standards” and he is a member of several professional associations including the Association International pour la Protection de la Propriété Intellectuelle (AIPPI), the Licensing Executives Society (LES), the German Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (GRUR), the German Association of Intellectual Property Experts (VPP).

Michael has written and presented on issues at the intersection of Intellectual Property Law, Antitrust and Standardisation in Europe, the United States, and Asia (especially China, Japan, and India). Michael also acted as a lecturer at the Master programme for Intellectual Property Law and Management at the Centre for Intellectual Property studies (CEIPI) of the University of Strasbourg.

Michael is bilingual German/French (German first language), business fluent in English and he has a basic knowledge of Portuguese.