Kay Uwe Jonas was a distinguished trade mark lawyer in Germany and a prominent member of MARQUES from the late 1990s until his sudden death in 2012.

Soon after joining MARQUES, Kay began to play a part in the association in various roles, at a time when it was expanding following the launch of the Community Trade Mark in 1996. He was a member of the Programming Team even before it came into being. He worked on annual conferences from the 2001 Annual Conference in Oslo onwards, helping to develop the programme and deciding who to invite as speakers. He was also a popular speaker at MARQUES events, and helped plan the first German Judges Meeting.

In due course he also became a member of the MARQUES Council and Executive, helping to decide and shape the strategy of the association as a whole, with particular responsibility for programming and internal issues. Kay embraced new legal concepts and technologies, and enjoyed discussing all aspects of IP law. But he combined this sharp legal analysis with a good sense of humour and a diplomatic skill.

After his death MARQUES felt it would be appropriate to commemorate his work with the annual Kay Uwe Jonas Memorial Lecture. In the annual editions of this lecture prominent European IP scholars have given us insights into intellectual property that go beyond what would be a topic for a regular conference.

Kay practised trade mark law throughout his career. After studying law at the University of Cologne, he spent three years as a legal trainee at the Court of Appeal, Cologne, before joining the German law firm Boden Oppenhoff Rasor Raue, which later became Oppenhoff & Rädler and then Linklaters. Kay became a partner of the firm in 1996, representing many global trade mark clients in Germany and in the then newly launched EU trade mark system. Early in his career he also spent a year in the US working for the firm Abelman Frayne & Schwab in New York.

In 2007, he set up his own IP boutique firm, JONAS Rechtsanwaltsgesellschft mbH, with a number of colleagues from Linklaters. After his death his partners continued to operate this firm under his name.