Industrial property rights are monopolies granted by the state. For a specific period of time, they allow the holder to forbid third parties to make use of a legally protected subject-matter. However, IP rights are significantly more than mere “rights to forbid.” They are valuable commercial assets which should be actively maintained and effectively defended against infringement.
enforcing
IP rights
Intellectual property has to be protected. Patents, trade marks and designs enable the holder to take action against third parties who violate these rights and to forbid actively any infringement of these rights at a national or international level. Such action should be taken not only for legal and economic considerations but also for tactical reasons or to protect the company’s image and reputation.
Of course, it is not simply a question of stopping the infringement of these property rights. The focus must also be on obtaining adequate compensation for the financial damage suffered as a result of infringement activity – including the costs incurred in the legal enforcement of your rights.
Our defence of your intellectual property consists first of all in consideration of the strategic question of how – and how fast – you are able to react to a violation of your property rights. We then support you in out-of-court activity, if this appears to be useful in the case in question. And finally, of course, we can conduct court proceedings before the appropriate courts of jurisdiction. If this takes place abroad, we can call on reliable local partners to conduct such litigation.
If third parties attack your protective rights with the intention of destroying them, for example, by means of a nullity suit or a request for cancellation, your intellectual property also has to be defended. This naturally applies to all kinds of protective rights at national and international levels. But legal steps taken against you by third parties, which – in the form of warning letters, requests for interim injunctions – “only” consist of the alleged infringement of patents, utility models, trade marks or designs, must also be effectively rebutted.
If you are held to be liable by a third party, we will take care of your defence at every stage of the proceedings and, if necessary, in close collaboration with lawyers who represent you before courts in Germany or abroad.
defending
IP rights
defending
IP rights
If third parties attack your protective rights with the intention of destroying them, for example, by means of a nullity suit or a request for cancellation, your intellectual property also has to be defended. This naturally applies to all kinds of protective rights at national and international levels. But legal steps taken against you by third parties, which – in the form of warning letters, requests for interim injunctions – “only” consist of the alleged infringement of patents, utility models, trade marks or designs, must also be effectively rebutted.
If you are held to be liable by a third party, we will take care of your defence at every stage of the proceedings and, if necessary, in close collaboration with lawyers who represent you before courts in Germany or abroad.
Our services
To ensure that your IP rights are enforced effectively, we will make certain that infringement of your property rights ceases and that legal steps taken against you are rebutted. We will assist you in out-of-court activity as well as in court and, if it is necessary or expedient, with the support of German colleagues or foreign lawyers at the court of jurisdiction in question.
Patents / Utility models
- Advice on the procedure to be adopted in the event of infringement of your patents / utility models
- Enforcement of claims arising from infringement of your patents /utility models, e.g. cease-and-desist orders, discovery and compensation before the regular courts and, if necessary, with the assistance of a lawyer
- Entitlement enquiries, warning letters, court actions and preliminary injunctions before regular courts, if necessary with the assistance of a lawyer
- Initiation of infringement or nullity proceedings including measures which provide preliminary legal protection
- Coordination of international infringement proceedings to defend your patents / utility models
- Challenging third-party patents and utility models (lack of patentability, infringement of one’s own rights)
- Representation in opposition, nullity or cancellation proceedings against your patents / utility models in Germany
- Defence against warning letters / preliminary injunction with regard to the infringement of a patent / utility model
- Deposition of protective letters
- Defence against opposition by third parties
Trade marks
- Warning letters about trade-mark infringements
- Initiation of infringement suits including measures of interim relief, if necessary, with the help of a lawyer
- Filing of opposition against trade-mark registrations by third parties
- Request for cancellation of a third-party’s trade mark
- Defence against claims or legal action and against applications for interim injunctions by third parties
- Defence against cancellation requests filed by third parties
- Defence against oppositions to your trade-mark registrations filed by third parties
- Coordination of international infringement litigation
Designs
- Warning letters with regard to infringements of design rights
- Initiation of infringement suits including measures of interim relief, if necessary, with the help of a lawyer
- Requests for the cancellation of third parties’ design rights
- Defence against claims or legal action and against applications for interim injunctions by third parties
- Defence against cancellation requests filed by third parties
- Coordination of international infringement litigation
Employee inventions
- Representation of employers and employees in disputes about employees‘ inventions before arbitration boards in accordance with the Employees‘ Inventions Law and before the regular courts
- Representation in disputes about vindication