Munich Summer Program Location

The City of Munich

With a population of over 1.2 million, Munich is the third-largest city in Germany and an important cultural and economic center. It has been ranked by Germans as the most livable city in Germany, and with a population of over 80,000 university students, it has plenty of attractions for students. Munich is known as Europe's "Intellectual Property Capital" because it is the location of the European Patent Office, the German Patent and Trademark Office, the German Federal Patent Court, a large number of intellectual property attorneys, and a large number of companies in industries heavily dependent upon intellectual property, including Siemens, BMW, and many media and biotech companies. Munich's cultural and recreational attractions include:

  • 45 museums, including the Deutsches Museum -- possibly the best technology museum in the world -- and a cluster of world-famous art museums that include the Alte Pinakothek, the Neue Pinakothek, and the Pinakothek der Moderne
  • 2 opera houses
  • 58 (non-cinema) theaters, and 84 cinemas
  • the Bavarian Film Studios, where such films as The Never-Ending Story, Cabaret, and Das Boot were shot (Munich is the film and media capital of Germany)
  • the English Garden, one of the largest urban parks in the world (larger than New York's Central Park), which offers an astounding variety of attractions, including surfing (on a well-frequented standing wave in a branch of the Isar River) and nude sunbathing
  • the largest concentration of beer gardens in the world (see the English-language Beer Drinker's Guide to Munich
  • and within an hour by car or train, the German Alps, and a number of beautiful Alpine lakes.

You may find other useful information on the following sites: New in the City; Frommer's; Europe for Visitors; Toytown Munich. (Being lawyers, we can't help but add that we do not take any responsibility for the accuracy of the information contained on any particular website).

Although the program will be conducted entirely in English, to take full advantage of your stay in Munich you should consider learning some basic German (or brushing up on the German you've already learned). For a quick, inexpensive course in both language and culture, you might try the book-and-cassette combination "German Survival Guide" by Elizabeth Bingham.


The Month of June

May is fairly mild in Munich, with an average daily high temperature of 66 degrees Fahrenheit and a low of 47 degrees.  There can be many rainy and cool days, so pack a jacket and raingear or umbrella.  It seldom gets very hot in May, but rain is to be expected.


The Munich Intellectual Property Law Center

All classes in the program will be held on the premises of the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center (MIPLC) and the neighboring Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law. Students in the program will be able to use a number of study rooms and two libraries, including the library of the Max Planck Institute, which is the most complete intellectual property library in the world.

The MIPLC is right in the center of Munich (See Map) -- one-half block from the Four Seasons hotel and the most exclusive shopping street in Munich; one block from the opera house; two blocks from the English Garden, two blocks from the Hofbräuhaus, the most famous beer hall in Germany, and four blocks from the Marienplatz, the historic central plaza underneath which most of the subway train lines meet.