Gerstberger Products & Law

Food & Beverage; Life Sciences; Commercial; Dispute Resolution; EU, Trade & Competition; Intellectual Property; Public Law & Regulation; Advertising; Brands

Director, Head of German Food & Drink and Life Sciences Team

"This is exactly what I wanted, when I needed it. Great work."

Client from the food industry, October 2015

Dr. Ina Gerstberger heads Gowling WLG’s German Food & Drink/Life Sciences team. She is a frequently recommended sector expert for food law and related areas of law in Germany for more than a decade. Ina is particularly praised for her expertise in novel foods, in product delimitation issues between foods, drugs and cosmetics, in health-related advertising and in intra-European matters by major legal directory JUVE. Among her clients are companies marketing foodstuffs, feedstuffs, cosmetics, medical devices, pharmaceuticals and biocides as well as international raw material manufacturers, industry associations and insurance companies.

Ina combines long standing industry expertise and additional scientific knowledge (Vordiplom in Biochemistry) with sound legal skills and creativity to overcome legal challenges resulting from stringent regulatory requirements. Such qualifications make her the lawyer of choice for clients preferring a single sourced solution of their problems based on a deeper understanding of the science behind the client´s business.

Ina routinely guides clients through all stages of project development: from assessing new product ideas, through the drafting of relevant commercial agreements, to advice on specific marketing measures and statutory labelling, notification or authorisation requirements or, as the case may be, in providing assistance in the course of recall procedures and in product liability cases. Ina often adds value to her clients by making strategic use of existing national legislation of other EU member states to benefit from the current non-harmonisation in the pharmaceutical and food area. She is also highly experienced in coordinating matters involving other jurisdictions. That is often the case when companies want to develop and apply a consistent marketing strategy in terms of legal marketing claims for products, be it in relation to internet advertising or product development.

Clients likewise benefit from Ina's extensive experience in unfair competition litigation before the German civil courts as well as in administrative and criminal proceedings. Ina is however also frequently involved in transactions in the food and pharmaceutical sector.

Ina pursues a proactive approach and keeps herself and her clients up to date by lecturing frequently in food and drug law at university courses or relevant industry events. She is the author of a textbook on the use of botanicals in food supplements and functional foodstuffs in Germany, the UK, France, Belgium and Spain and of numerous other articles, annotations and contributions to legal commentaries in food and drug law. Ina is a member of the relevant industry associations in her areas of law, including an appointed membership in the Expert Committee on Pharmaceutical and Food law of the German Association on Intellectual Property and Copyright Law (GRUR).

Experience Successful representation of various companies from the life sciences/food & drink sector in unfair competition disputes against competitors or associations regarding, among others, allegedly misleading or not sufficiently substantiated advertising claims, illness-related claims, use of allegedly illegal ingredients, alleged authorisation requirements for products to be classified as pharmaceuticals or novel foods as well as on infringements of legal requirements established by the German Act on the advertising of medicaments (Heilmittelwerbegesetz) Drafting and negotiating various agreements for pharmaceutical, biotech or foodstuff companies which require regulatory knowledge and input (e.g. letter of intent, confidentiality agreements, legal re...

German, English