Marks & Designs
Marks and designs count among the Intellectual Property Rights which receive absolute legal protection just as well as tangible property. These Intellectual Property Rights are protected in such a way that the holder has exclusive right of use of them, which means that any third party is prohibited from using these rights without the consent of the holder. The holder has a right to injunctive relief against the infringer which can be enforced in court.
Trademark Law
We assist our clients in the entire field of trademark law, starting with the development of a trademark strategy, through the registration procedure, to the monitoring and enforcement of trademark rights in legal disputes. The same applies to title protection rights, domains and company rights. We offer companies the service of an outsourced trademark administration department.
Corporate Law
There are several other rights concerning marks or brands, such as the company name and other business identifiers, or copyrights of titles. Even though these business signs are meant to identify the company and not its products or services, it is vital to integrate the business signs into the overall protection strategy as well in order to achieve an optimum protection for both the company and its products or services.
Domains
In recent years, domains have evolved from just a name for a website towards an integral part of the business signs and thus the overall strategy for the protection of a company and its products or services. In the context of the overall concept, the choice of a fitting domain can serve to close any gaps in the protection of the brand and the trademark rights. Therefore, thorough legal advice is to be recommended when choosing and registering a domain. Companies can also use their domains to prevent competitors from related fields of business from using similar domains, similar company names and similar trademarks.
Design Law
Effective protection of new designs against plagiarism is becoming increasingly important, especially for innovative and creative companies. A registered design will effectively protect your products against imitation and plagiarism at a comparatively low cost. And for the first three years after a design has first been published, it will even automatically receive Europe-wide protection without any additional European registration necessary.
Copyright Law
A Copyright is a protective right for creative professionals regulated under German Copyright Law (Urheberechtsgesetz; UrhG). Copyright Law protects the author’s intellectual property of his works and enables him to gain financial benefit from his creation. Apart from protecting the proprietary rights, Copyright Law also regulates the so-called moral rights which are meant to secure the close connection of a creator to his work, e.g., by naming him as the author. We assist companies as well as artists in protecting their intellectual property, in drafting licensing or distribution agreements and in enforcing their rights in court.