After studying physical chemistry at ETH Zurich and writing his doctoral thesis in the group of Prof. Dr. R.R. Ernst in the field of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), Tobias Bremi was drawn to business despite his unquenched fascination for the fundamentals of natural sciences and applied technology. The work at the interface between the latest innovative technology and law continued to fascinate him then as it does now and prompted him to start training as a patent attorney in a small law firm in Zurich in 1998. He spent a year in Strasbourg (France) at the Université Robert Schuman to acquire sound legal knowledge in the IP field and in-depth language skills, and passed the European Qualifying Examination in 2001. Shortly afterwards, in 2002, he moved to Isler & Pedrazzini AG to gain experience in larger cases in an even more professional environment with colleagues from various fields. He has been a partner in the firm since 2006, continuing to advise clients with enthusiasm to this day.
His wide-ranging practice extends in particular to the fields of mechanical and medical engineering, (bio)chemistry, materials science, plastics technology and analytic chemistry. Tobias Bremi not only has many years of experience in proceedings to obtain patents in the most important industrialized nations, but also regularly advises and represents his clients in contentious proceedings concerning the validity and infringement of patents. Tobias Bremi also frequently conducts IP due diligence assessments.
In 2011, Tobias Bremi had the unique opportunity to play an active role in setting up the new Swiss Federal Patent Court. He was elected by the Federal Assembly as the second full-time judge and built up the court together with the first President, Dieter Brändle. Since the Swiss Federal Patent Court became operational, he has spent 50% of his time there as one of two permanent judges.
From the very beginning of his career as a patent attorney, it has been important to Tobias Bremi to be active in teaching and in the further development of the legal profession. He has been a tutor for the training of European Patent Attorneys at CEIPI in Strasbourg (since 2002) and, until 2010, for the basic course in Zurich. Furthermore, he was a lecturer at ETH in the program “MAS in Intellectual Property” for several years, is a lecturer at the University of St. Gallen (Executive School of Management) as part of the program “Business Law for Managers” (since 2008) as well as at the CAS in IP Management at the University of Applied Sciences of Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW) (since 2009) and as part of the training of Swiss patent attorneys at the IPI (since 2012). He has also been a member of the Board of the Association for Intellectual Property Law (INGRES) since 2013.