Trademark, Design & Copyright Law

As part of the IP, Media & Technology practice group, our experienced team in trademark, design, and copyright law registers trademark forms and designs, thus protecting your product designs from unauthorized use by third parties.

Registering and protecting trademarks

Our experienced lawyers will respond to all your questions relating to trademark registration and support you in implementing your project. Our advisory services include: searching for conflicting older trademarks and company logos, registering trademarks and designs, administration of international IP portfolios, and monitoring the registration of similar IP rights by third parties.

In the event of a collision with other IP rights, we negotiate delimitation solutions and represent you before the German Patent and Trade Mark Office or the European Union Intellectual Property Office. With partners abroad, we also secure your trademark worldwide.

If your product is already on the market and a competitor feels disturbed, we will work with you to develop de-escalation and defense strategies:

• Representation in court: Our lawyers are admitted to and well-known at all important courts nationwide. They are familiar with regional peculiarities of interim legal protection, thus avoiding pitfalls.
• Protection against dilution: For companies that, as trademark owners, fall victim to counterfeiting, we conduct serial civil litigation against infringers. We have implemented enforcement programs to counteract the dilution of valuable trademark and design assets.
• Out-of-court settlement: In addition, we advise and represent you in domain disputes before national and international arbitration courts, where we also act as arbitrators.

Out-of-court representation and advice: reviewing and drafting contracts

In addition to legal disputes, we also advise you in contractual matters. We draft license agreements, supervise licensing relationships, or help with designing distribution systems: Jointly with our specialist lawyers in distribution law and antitrust law, we develop distribution agreements, for example for franchising or store-in-store concepts.

Copyright and intellectual property: protection against unauthorized use by third parties

In the new media world, it is easy for someone to violate your rights – for example, by simply assuming content without licensing or by not taking journalistic care. Responding to such an infringement, whether in the press, a blog, or any other offering, requires the correct strategic direction. Our lawyers will support you in exercising your rights.

Product piracy: counterfeiting and plagiarism

One team specializes in combating product piracy. This includes strategic advice on product identification solutions, helping you and the investigating authorities to successfully take action against counterfeit goods, unauthorized parallel imports, or other unlawful activities.

Illegal imports are stopped by border seizure. We are the contact for our clients in relation to daily customs seizures in Germany and are familiar with the procedures and the acting individuals: the courts, the responsible customs investigation offices, and public prosecutors.

We train customs on your products, counterfeiting features, and your security technologies. We initiate criminal charges against infringers and represent you in criminal proceedings as joint plaintiff. In collaboration with our legal professionals in criminal law, we conduct adhesion proceedings to skim off the profits from the crimes.

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IP, Media & Technology