Kirchhoff, Wolfgang

Prof. Dr.

Current activity

President of the Association of European Competition Law Judges (AECLJ), Honorary Professor at the University of Bonn, Co-editor of the competition law review WuW

Professional focus

Areas of law

Energy law
EU law
Public procurement law
Competition and antitrust law

My career

  • Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kirchhoff was Presiding Judge of the Cartel Senate of the Federal Court of Justice from May 2022 until his retirement on April 1, 2025. After studying and completing his legal clerkship in Bonn, Lausanne and Freiburg, he received his doctorate from the Max Planck Institute for Patent, Copyright and Competition Law in Munich. From 1989 to 2004, Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff worked in Düsseldorf and Brussels as a lawyer, initially for five years specializing in corporate law and then mainly in antitrust, state aid and public procurement law, since 1996 as a partner in a leading international law firm. After his election as a federal judge, he initially belonged to the X. Civil Senate of the Federal Court of Justice, which is primarily responsible for patent law, but also for public procurement law, from November 2004. From January 2007 to August 2019, he was a member of the I. Civil Senate, which is mainly responsible for competition, trademark and copyright law, as well as arbitration law. Since January 2007, he has also been a member of the Cartel Senate and, since its establishment in September 2019, of the XIII. Civil Senate, which is now responsible, among other things, for public procurement law. He was appointed chair of these two senates in May 2022. Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff has emerged through numerous lectures and publications. He is President of the Association of European Competition Law Judges, Honorary Professor at the University of Bonn, co-editor of the journal “Wirtschaft und Wettbewerb” and was a member of the Competition Law 4.0 Commission at the Federal Minstry for Economic Affairs.

Arbitration experience

Chairman of an arbitration tribunal established by an EU Commission decision on merger control. From 2014 to 2019, judge at the I. Civil Senate of the Federal Court of Justice, responsible for arbitration law.

Publications

  • Selected Publications of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kirchhoff Problems of trade of the Asian Pacific countries with the Common Market of the EC, and indications as to how to overcome them, German-Australian Business, 1992, S. 21 ff. Beraterverträge mit Aufsichtsratsmitgliedern (zs. mit Dr. Dietrich Hoffmann), WPg 1991, S. 592 ff. Zur Abberufung von Aufsichtsratsmitgliedern durch das Gericht nach § 103 Abs. 1 AktG (zs. mit Dr. Dietrich Hoffmann), in: Festschrift für Karl Beusch, Walter de Gruyter, 1993, S.377 ff. Staatliche Bürgschaften und EG-Beihilferecht (zs. mit Dr. Michael Schütte), EWS 1996, S.189 ff. Ausschreibung und Vergabeverfahren, in: Siebel, Handbuch Projekte und Projekt-finanzierung, 2001, S. 108 ff. State aid recovery from investors: a bomb defused?, Global Competition Review, 2003, S. 34 f. Sachverhaltsaufklärung und Beweislage bei der Anwendung des Art. 81 EG-Vertrag, WuW 2004, S. 745 ff. Zentrale und dezentrale Anwendung des europäischen Wettbewerbsrechts; Verhält-nis zum nationalen Recht, Beeinträchtigung des zwischenstaatlichen Handels, in: Münchener Kommentar zum Europäischen und Deutschen Wettbewerbsrecht (Kartellrecht), Bd. 2, 2007; 2. Aufl. 2015 Englische Fassung in: Competition Law: European Community Practice and Procedure, Sweet&Maxwell, 2007, S. 83 ff. Zwangslizenzen in der Rechtsprechung von EuGH, EuG und BGH, in: Innovation und Wettbewerb, FIW-Schriftenreihe, Band 228, 2009, S. 131 Die Stellung von Kommunalversicherern bei der Vergabe von Versicherungs-leistungen, in: Vergabe von Versicherungsleistungen, Schriftenreihe des forum vergabe e.V., Bd. 33, 2011, S. 25 ff. Die aktuelle Rechtsprechung des BGH zu Missbrauchskontrolle und Markt-abgrenzung, WuW 2011, 1174 Markenrechtliche Abgrenzungsvereinbarungen und Kartellrecht, Festschrift für Cornelis Canenbley, 2012, 273 Die Haftung von Kartellteilnehmern gegenüber mittelbar Geschädigten, FIW-Schriftenreihe, Band 239, 2012, S. 33 Das ORWI-Urteil des Bundesgerichtshofs – Hintergründe und Konsequenzen für die Rechtspraxis, WuW 2012, 927 Kartellrechtliche Fragen des Internetvertriebs, Festschrift für Joachim Bornkamm, 2014, S. 199 Ökonomie und Kartellrecht aus der Sicht des deutschen Richters, Festschrift für Klaus Tolksdorf, 2014, S. 521 Die UWG-Novelle 2015 – nur Kodifizierung der Rechtsprechung oder substantiell Neues?, WRP 2015, 659 Möglichkeiten und Grenzen markenrechtlicher Abgrenzungsvereinbarungen aus Sicht des Kartellrechts, GRUR 2017, 248 Der Beitrag des BGH zum Private Enforcement im Kartellrecht, WuW 2017, 487 Marktabgrenzung bei Lebensmitteln, Festschrift für Dirk Schröder, 2018, S. 373 Private Enforcement im Beihilferrecht, ZweR 2021, 393 Wettbewerbsverbote für Gesellschafter und Geschäftsführer aus kartellrechtlicher Sicht, Festschrift für Thomas Heidel, 2021, S. 249 The Growing Importance of National Courts, Germany, Regulation 1/2003 and EU Antitrust Enforcement, 2023, S. 185 Gedanken zur Ökonomie als Helfer der Kartellgerichte, WuW 2024, 73

Languages

German
English

Memberships

  • GRUR Expert Committee on Compettion Law, AECLJ

Further informations

Important notice: Outdated web browser INTERNET EXPLORER

The DIS website is not fully compatible with the outdated web browser INTERNET EXPLORER, for which security updates are no longer being provided. Some important functions of the website are not available (e.g. cost calculator, member access) or availability is limited (e.g. event area) with INTERNET EXPLORER.
For full use of the DIS website, please switch to an up to date web browser such as Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.