We assist you in all legal and procedural aspects of German, European and international patents. We will be pleased to ensure protection for your newly developed products by means of German, European or international patents. We have expertise in all relevant areas of technology, such as:
We represent you before the German Patent and Trademark Office (GPTO), the European Patent Office (EPO), the German Federal Patent Court (BPatG) and the German Federal Court of Justice (BGH).
Since 1 September 2008 modifications in the Patent Law have been in force which have made it easier to pursue competitors for patent infringements. Among others, an infringer is now obliged to hand over documents showing the patent infringement.
Despite these expanded legal possibilities for a successful enforcement of claims before court, it is important to generate significant pressure on the possible culprit already in the preliminaries. It is advisable to find an extrajudicial solution in order to avoid high costs, in particular in the U.S.A.
All inventions can be protected via utility models, except those which solely refer to methods.
There is the possibility to maintain protection for up to ten years without any examination of novelty or inventive step taking place.
It is advisable to apply for registration without making use of a “novelty grace period”, i.e. before any prior publication since in this case the utility model may serve as the basis for the potential application for further protection.
Employee inventions are inventions made by an employee. Here it is not of importance how, where, in what field or for what reasons the invention was made.
The Law is based on the first-to-invent system, which means that the right on the patent originates from the inventor.
He is obliged to inform his employer about any invention made during the employment. The employer in turn has the right to claim the invention.
If he wants to acquire the right to obtain a patent he is obliged to pay an adequate remuneration and to take over the costs. We advise our clients in all questions of the Law on Employee Inventions, we determine an adequate remuneration for the inventor and represent our clients successfully in proceedings before the arbitration tribunal.
It is essential for obtaining protection in the field of mechanical engineering to accurately define what is to be protected in a generalised form and in comparison with the current state of the art. For this purpose it is of great importance to pay attention to a precise wording. Wrong usage of certain terminology will lead to unnecessary limitations of the scope of protection. It is advisable to use newly created expressions or expressions with specific inherent meaning in order to gain a scope of protection which is as wide as possible.
When working out either German or European patent applications we make sure that all requirements of U.S. Patent Law concerning the disclosure are already met. Excessive costs for potential U.S. applications to be filed later can be avoided in this way.
Compared with mechanical engineering, inventions in the fields of electrical engineering and electronics are more complex. It is advisable in some cases to have different aspects, such as a circuit, protected via separate patent applications. Alternatively, a number of “inventions” may first be assembled in one patent application at first, thus reducing costs, with the option of later filing divisional applications in order to acquire necessary or recommendable separate protection.
Functional wording of the patent claims will serve to keep competitors out of the market. Here it is essential to always bear in mind the latest Decisions of German and European jurisdiction when working out patent applications.
In the field of telecommunications technical expertise and experience as well as the knowledge of what the competitors of our client telecommunications enterprises are doing are of particular importance.
In close cooperation with the development engineers we can tailor measures destined to gain a monopoly position against the competitors with the help of developments and inventions. In these cases we can rely on the technical know-how of our in-house engineers.
Besides the protection of computer hardware it is now also possible, thanks to the latest Decisions of the European Patent Office, to have software solutions protected in Europe. The requirement which must be fulfilled is for them to provide a “technical contribution”.
The jurisdiction in this particular field of industrial property rights is in a continuous development which we are observing thoroughly since above all the European Legislation is now trying to achieve further harmonisation after the initial refusal of the directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions.
We carry out extensive searches for the current state of the art for you. These searches cover both patent literature (patents and disclosures) and non-patent literature (scientific articles, company publications, specialist magazines, exhibition brochures etc.) as well as searches in media and in archives.
Our Trademark Department will counsel you and take care of trademark applications, oppositions and cancellation proceedings including possible appeal proceedings concerning German, European and international trademarks. We represent our clients in trademark matters before the German Patent and Trademark Office (GPTO), the German Federal Patent Court (BPatG), the Office of Harmonisation for the International Market (OHIM), the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and the European Court of Justice.
One central issue is the clarification of acts of infringement. The Attorney at Law and patent attorneys of this law office represent our clients in infringement cases concerning all intellectual property rights, such as patent matters in all fields of technology as well as trademark matters. The infringement cases with which this law office deals include suits to enforce claims for injunction, damages or destruction as well as interim orders based on patents, trademarks or in cases of unfair competition or copyright violations. Our numerous good contacts with colleagues abroad make it possible for us to also assist our clients in the enforcement of intellectual property rights abroad and overseas as well as in the coordination of international infringement cases.
We determine for you whether a certain trademark has already been protected by some competitor.
In our trademark watch system we inform you about any younger trademarks which may be confusable with a watched trademark and whose registration or intended registration has been published. After this publication there is usually a three-month opposition period during which objections against the registration may be raised.
Conflicts between signs or domain names are increasing. In the past the legal claims in case of unauthorized registration of domain names by foreign “cyber squatters” could hardly be enforced due to the difficulties in the recognition and execution of Court Decisions. For this reason owners of intellectual property rights often had to accept “first come, first served” as a basis for registration. Today there are various dispute settlement procedures which make possible an effective and low-cost legal protection against domain pirates.
This law office has experience in the enforcement of claims for injunction against cross-border infringements and handles for our clients border seizures, confiscations by the police based on Criminal Law, trials in cases of infringements of utility models, industrial designs, trademarks, copyrights and the unauthorized acquisition of know-how.
An industrial design is the subject of an intellectual property right. It gives the owner an exclusive right to use some aesthetic shaping (design, colour, shape). The design may be protected against copying in accordance with the Industrial Design Law. This means that any registered appearance of a product is protected. In many cases it is advisable to additionally have a utility model registered in order to also cover the basic functional principle of the product.
We will be pleased to take over the representation of national or international industrial designs for you and to assist you in acquiring and enforcing your industrial design rights.
Licences are of considerable importance in trade and industry, and define who may use a specific intellectual property right.
We support you in working out license agreements in patent, trademark, design and copyright matters. A central issue here is the determination of the royalties to be paid. These can be fixed as a lump sum fee, per-piece or turnover-based licence fees.
One central issue is the clarification of acts of infringement. The Attorney at Law and patent attorneys of this law office represent our clients in infringement cases concerning all intellectual property rights, such as patent matters in all fields of technology as well as trademark matters. The infringement cases with which this law office deals include suits to enforce claims for injunction, damages or destruction as well as interim orders based on patents, trademarks or in cases of unfair competition or copyright violations. Our numerous good contacts with colleagues abroad make it possible for us to also assist our clients in the enforcement of intellectual property rights abroad and overseas as well as in the coordination of international infringement cases.
RUMFORDSTRASSE 7
80469 MÜNCHEN
GERMANY