Keil & Schaafhausen

What Keil & Schaafhausen does

Keil & Schaafhausen is a Frankfurt-based partnership of patent attorneys (PartGmbB) focused on industrial property protection. Its core services cover patent prosecution, trademark registration, design protection, and utility models, with associated advisory and litigation support. The firm describes its client base as spanning national and international companies, public institutions, and private inventors, indicating a horizontal mix rather than a vertical specialization. The practice has a long-standing presence in the Frankfurt market and operates with one to ten employees under a partnership structure.

The firm is organized around five representing partners and supplemented by paralegals and foreign-language correspondents who enable cross-border filings. Its attorneys are admitted to the Patentanwaltskammer (German Chamber of Patent Attorneys) and hold memberships in FICPI and epi, which extend the firm's reach into international patent prosecution and European patent practice. The April 2023 departure of Dr. Andreas Knoblauch reduced the partner bench, and a March 2024 office relocation followed. The firm continues to recruit support staff, indicating stable rather than expanding capacity.

Revenue is generated through fee-for-service engagements — predominantly hourly billing and fixed fees for filings — typical of patent and trademark prosecution work. Pricing is not publicly disclosed, and the firm's small footprint limits revenue scale relative to large international IP firms. There is no indication of proprietary technology, AI tooling, or platform-based delivery; the offering is conventional professional services. Strategic optionality is constrained by the partnership's size and traditional service mix, with growth dependent on partner-level business development rather than scalable infrastructure.

Name

Keil & Schaafhausen

Legal name

KEIL & SCHAAFHAUSEN Patentanwälte PartGmbB

Website

https://kspartner.de

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Keil & Schaafhausen is a Frankfurt-based partnership of patent attorneys specializing in patents, trademarks, designs, and utility models for national and international clients, public institutions, and private inventors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Intellectual Property Law Services

NAICS

Offices of Lawyers (54111), Legal Services (5411)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111)

akta.pro primary industry

IP Search, Watch & Competitive Intelligence (BPAHAMAI)

akta.pro secondary industry

IP Compliance, Anti-Counterfeiting & Enforcement (BPAHAMAK)

Keywords

• Patent attorney services
• Trademark registration
• Industrial property protection
• Intellectual property law
• Design registration

Headquarters

HQ city

Frankfurt

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Legal Advisory Services: Fee-based professional services for intellectual property protection including patent filing, trademark registration, design protection, and litigation services. Revenue is generated through client engagements for national and international patent and trademark matters.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Keil & Schaafhausen is a partnership of patent attorneys offering specialized legal services in industrial property protection. The firm files, defends, and enforces patents, utility models, trademarks, and designs, while also advising on license and contract law and representing clients in IP litigation. Its attorneys hold technical qualifications in mechanical engineering, physics, medical technology, environmental technology, and materials technology, supporting technically complex filings before the German and European Patent Offices.

Product overview

Keil & Schaafhausen is a partnership of patent attorneys providing comprehensive intellectual property services. The firm offers a unified portfolio of legal services centered on industrial property protection, including patents, utility models, trademarks, and designs. Services are delivered through experienced patent attorneys and support staff, with a particular emphasis on technical expertise in machinery, medical technology, environmental technology, and materials technology sectors. The firm also provides associated services such as license and contract law advisory, as well as litigation support.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Patents (Patente)
• Utility Models (Gebrauchsmuster)
• Trade Marks (Marken)
• Designs (Designs)
• License and Contract Law
• Litigation
• Foreign Language Correspondence Services

Named customers3 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Patentanwaltskammer (German Patent Attorneys Association)coreOthersThe patent attorneys of Keil & Schaafhausen are members of the German Patent Attorneys Association and subject to the professional rules stipulated by the German Patent Attorney Code (Patentanwaltsordnung, PAO) and the Professional Code of Conduct for Patent Attorneys (Berufsordnung der Patentanwälte).
• FICPI (Fédération Internationale des Conseils en Propriété Industrielle)coreOthersMembers of FICPI and subject to its code of professional conduct. The firm operates under international professional standards for intellectual property advisors.
• epi (Institute of Professional Representatives before the European Patent Office)coreOthersEuropean Patent Attorneys registered with the European Patent Office and members of epi. Subject to the Code of Professional Conduct of the Institute of Professional Representatives before the European Patent Offices.
• R+V Allgemeine Versicherung AGcoreOthersProfessional liability insurance provider for all patent attorneys in the firm, with no territorial restriction. Located at Taunusstraße 1, 65193 Wiesbaden, Germany.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Broad incumbents

• HGF Limited: HGF is a major European IP-focused law firm combining patent attorneys and IP solicitors with offices across the UK, Germany and other European markets. It directly overlaps with K&S on patent prosecution and IP litigation, particularly in serving multi-jurisdictional corporate IP portfolios.
• Zacco: Zacco is a larger European IP consultancy offering patent, trademark, design and IP strategy services across many jurisdictions including a sizable presence in Germany. It overlaps with K&S on core IP advisory but operates at broader scale and across more geographies, making it a broad incumbent in the same service category.
• Dennemeyer & Associates: Dennemeyer is a global IP service provider combining patent/trademark filing, prosecution support and IP management software (DIAMS). It competes in the patent and trademark advisory space K&S occupies, but with a tech-enabled, scalable service model rather than a traditional partnership structure.

Direct peers

• Grünecker Patent- und Rechtsanwälte: Grünecker is one of the largest established German IP partnerships (Munich), offering patent prosecution, trademark, design and litigation services. It is highly comparable in service mix and target clients, though significantly larger in headcount than K&S — the most relevant German direct peer.
• Bardehle Pagenberg: Bardehle Pagenberg is a leading German patent attorney and legal partnership based in Munich with offices across Europe, offering a comparable full-service IP advisory practice (patents, trademarks, designs, litigation, licensing) to corporate clients. Both firms share the German PartGmbB-style partnership structure and serve as one-stop counsel for technically sophisticated clients seeking unified DE/EPO prosecution and litigation.
• Vossius & Partner: Vossius & Partner is a Munich-based German patent attorney and legal boutique with a comparable full-service IP practice covering patents, trademarks, designs and IP litigation before German and European courts. Like K&S, it is structured as a partnership of technical and legal professionals serving corporate clients.
• Hoefer & Partner Patentanwälte: Hoefer & Partner is a German PartGmbB of patent attorneys in Munich offering patent prosecution, trademark and design services with similar technical specializations (engineering, physics, chemistry). Directly comparable on structure, service scope and German IP market positioning.
• Maiwald Patent- und Rechtsanwalts GmbH: Maiwald is a mid-sized German patent and attorney firm headquartered in Munich, with a portfolio-comparable offering across patents, trademarks, designs and litigation. Like K&S, Maiwald combines technically credentialed attorneys (natural sciences, engineering) with European Patent Attorney qualifications, and it targets mid-market and large-enterprise clients in MedTech, mechanics and chemistry.

Regional players

• Kilburn & Strode: Kilburn & Strode is a leading London-based patent and trademark attorney firm serving European and international clients with similar full-service IP offerings. It is comparable in service mix and client type to K&S but operates from a UK base, making it a regional peer serving different primary jurisdictions.

Others

• RWS Group / Innovia Technology: RWS is a global IP services and language/localization provider serving patent translation, filing and prosecution support. It complements rather than directly competes with K&S at the advisory level, but competes for budget allocation on the patent translation and filing workflow components of large clients.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Keil & Schaafhausen