Intellectual Property

When founding a company, during product development and establishment on the market, the management should proceed strategically and check to what extent the company name and products of the company can be protected by applying for trademarks in the Federal Republic of Germany, within the EU or worldwide.

To this end, a trademark search must first be carried out in order to determine whether there are rights held by holders of rights that are senior in priority and whether the intended brand name can be confused with the brand name of another company.

It is also necessary to check whether there are any obstacles to registration of the trademark, e.g. whether the trademark name is purely descriptive and is therefore rejected by the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA) as not being registrable. Furthermore, in addition to the relative grounds for refusal, there may also be absolute grounds for refusal which prevent registration at the German Patent and Trademark Office.

Within the scope of the trademark application, it must be examined and discussed with the client for which goods and/or services the trademark is to be applied for. In the case of special goods and services, the list of goods or services must be adapted to the needs of the company. In order to speed up the processing of the trademark application at the DPMA, an accelerated examination can be requested at the DPMA.

After registration of a trademark, design or utility model, the IP rights should be monitored and renewed within the time limits.

In the event of attacks by third parties on our clients’ property rights, we examine the prospects of success of the claims and defend the opponent’s claims, e.g. for cancellation of the trademark. In addition, we file a protective brief in the various jurisdictions in order to ward off asserted claims of the opponent.

We advise on the reservation of domain names and the publication of works in the Title Protection Gazette.

 

The services of the law firm include in particular

  • Conducting a trademark search (identity search, similarity search)
  • Application for a word mark for the Federal Republic of Germany
  • Application for a figurative trademark for the Federal Republic of Germany
  • Application for an EU Community Trademark
  • Application for an international registration (IR) with WIPO
  • Preparation of the required list of goods and services
  • Processing of oppositions against the list of goods and services
  • Legal evaluation of the chances of success of the registration of a trademark
  • Legal review and evaluation of risks regarding infringement of existing industrial property rights of third parties
  • Registration of design patents
  • Application for utility models
  • Conducting actions for cancellation of unused trademarks or trademarks infringing the rights of third parties