Schattdecor is able to print a watermark which is invisible to the naked eye on furniture decor. Only a mobile phone camera with a special app can make the trademark protected sign visible. On this path to the digitalization of furniture decors, completely new applications are possible. Customers can scan any decor, whether on the physical furniture in the store, at home on a printed catalogue or on the screen, and the app shows all information about this decor. This turns a solution originally against plagiarism into an industry solution for the furniture and interior decoration industry.

In order to enable and establish the use of the application across the industry, Schattdecor and other cooperation partners can store their own company profiles and product information online. The goal: The customer should receive information about the desired decor at any time – regardless of the provider – via the individual company profile and its content, quickly and easily using the free app. Since the actual core performance of Schattdecor are furniture decors, which can be protected very poorly by industrial property rights, IP-Design had to create a special solution for the company. During this process a path to the digital transformation of an entire industry was created.

Authors oft he case study:


Prof. Dr. Alexander J. Wurzer

Dr. Wurzer is Professor for IP Management at the Centre for International Intellectual Property Studies (Centre d’Etudes Internationales de la Propriété Industrielle, CEIPI) at the University of Strasbourg, where he has been program leader for the Master’s degree in Intellectual Property Law and Management (MIPLM) since 2007. Prof. Dr. Wurzer is Director of the Steinbeis Transfer Institute for Intellectual Property Management at Steinbeis University Berlin. He is Managing Partner at WURZER & KOLLEGEN GmbH, a consulting firm for strategic IP management.

Prof. Dr. Wurzer is Chairman of the DIN 77100 committee for patent valuation, and DIN 77006 for Quality of Intellectual Property Management Systems. He is a member of the Board of Directors of “Deutsches Institut für Erfindungswesen e.V.” (D.I.E.), as well as the Board of Trustees of the Diesel Medal Awards. He is Fellow at the Alta Scuola Politecnica of Milan/Turin Politechnic. He is a member of the group of experts on “IP Valuation” of the European Commission and the Patent Law working group of the University of Düsseldorf, as well as the working group for Patent Valuation of the Licensing Executives Society (LES) and a member of the Advisory Board of the Innovation Manager Magazine of the F.A.Z. Institute.


Roland Heeger

Roland Heeger, born 1962, has an engineering degree from the University of Kaiserslautern with a specialization in mechanical engineering. His postgraduate career began as R&D manager at Hereaus Instruments GmbH, Hanau for Weathering and Lightfastness Testing Equipment, Surgical Lights and Laser Surgery. After Roland Heeger became part of Ingersoll Rand in 1995, he spent 2 years in Birmingham, UK as the European Product manager and 3 years in Brussels, Belgium as Vice President Operations for Security & Safety ESA division, reorganising the European manufacturing footprint.

Roland Heeger joined Schattdecor AG, Thansau in 2005. As CTO, he is responsible for the technological advancement in production processes, IT, R&D and development of digital printing. He has increased Schattdecor’s footprint with multiple Greenfield plants, acquisitions and joint ventures in Russia, Brazil, China, USA and Malaysia. In addition, Roland Heeger serves as Member of the Board in Schattdecor Inc. USA, Schattdecor Sp. z o.o., Poland and Arcolor AG, Switzerland.

He also is a Member of the extended Board at Seeoner Kreis e.V., an association of entrepreneurs in the southeast of Bavaria, which is actively promoting the Rosenheim Technical University of Applied Sciences and the networking between the university and business.

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