Declan Mulhern

Declan Mulhern is a partner in the Chemistry practice group at HOFFMANN EITLE. He is with the firm since 2007 and handles cases across multiple disciplines including cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, medical devices, polymers, batteries and industrial processes. Declan has extensive experience in contentious proceedings at the European Patent Office and appears frequently before its Opposition Divisions and Boards of Appeal. Alongside his own prosecution work, Declan also coordinates global patent prosecution, coordinates freedom to operate searches, and advises his clients on patent infringement and validity matters. Declan is one of two European correspondents for the Japan-based journal Patents & Licensing for which he regularly provides updates on key developments in European patent practice.

Declan has undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in chemistry from Dublin City University (DCU), Ireland. During his undergraduate studies Declan spent a semester at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Jena, Germany, and another semester on work placement at a pharmaceutical company in Luzern, Switzerland. His postgraduate research was part of an international effort to find compounds that can be used as water-splitting catalysts in the production of hydrogen or as sensitizers on solar cells. As part of this effort, Declan discovered and developed new synthetic routes to ruthenium-polypyridyl complexes for which he was awarded a Ph.D. by DCU in 2003.

Declan gained industrial experience in Japan before and after obtaining his Ph.D.: first as a chemical engineer for a manufacturing and trading company in Tokyo (1997-1999) and later as a research scientist for a contract research organisation in Ibaraki prefecture (2003-2007).