Intellectual Property

Intellectual property rights are great, but almost worthless without enforcement. With our decades of experience, we help enforce these rights, representing you in court where necessary.

• Infringement proceedings for trademarks, patents, designs, etc. (including claims for injunctive relief and damages claims)
• Interlocutory procedures
• Disclosure and inspection proceedings
• Enforcement procedures at trade fairs
• Litigation and defence strategies for complex disputes
• Defence against pirated goods (seizure of goods at the border)
• Trademark screening procedures and platform monitoring to help combat counterfeit imports
• Disputes concerning remuneration for employee inventions, including before the arbitration panel of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA)

An intelligent IP strategy will achieve the best possible protection for the commercially most important products and trademarks within the available budget.

• Analysing and optimising trademark and patent portfolios
• Preparing and making simultaneous applications for registration of intellectual property rights worldwide (trademarks, designs, patents)
• Monitoring trademarks
• Registering and monitoring domains
• Representing clients in international domain disputes (e.g., UDRP)
• Analysing corporate IP portfolios and risks
• Registering and validating trademarks to protect against new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) (e.g., with Trademark Clearing House)

Licences for the use of intellectual property rights can be very valuable. We help our clients draft and negotiate the relevant agreements for the grant and use of such rights.

• Licencing agreements (including antitrust and tax law aspects)
• Multi-tier licencing models within the corporate group (bundling of trademarks and compliance with licences)
• Research and development agreements with universities or private institutions
• Coexistence agreements for trademarks and titles
• Confidentiality agreements and the protection of rights during contractual negotiations (letters of intent, NDAs)
• Advertising contracts, in particular:
  • Offsetting transactions and volume deals
  • Media and advertising agency contracts
  • Affiliate and white label agreements

We draft and negotiate agreements and represent our clients before courts in all matters involving copyright.

• Protection and acquisition of content (text, images, music, software, databases)
• Exploitation of content (including syndication and agency structures)
• Licencing agreements with rights holders or licensees (e.g., author or photographer contracts)
• Buy-outs and compensation disputes
• The law applicable to collecting societies
• Laws on film production and exploitation

We’ll protect you against any unlawful advertising measures or actions your competitors take. Our team will also help you realise your marketing ideas, ensuring they comply with relevant laws, and advise on the following issues:

• the law applicable to advertising in digital media (influencer marketing, programmatic advertising)
• conceptual advice when developing marketing concepts (including competitions and personalised advertising)
• ad hoc advice on the implementation of individual measures and procedural protections (e.g., caveats)
• compliance of the corporate online presence with relevant laws (website, Facebook page, use of social media)
• defence against claims of industry associations
• protection against actions and statements of competitors, e.g., in the case of
  • misleading advertising or aggressive commercial practices
  • industrial espionage
  • poaching of employees
  • counterfeit products and advertising measures without special protection
• employee invention law
• the protection of know-how
• technology transfers

Every tech-savvy, innovative company faces the practical challenge of complying with the complicated requirements of employee invention law. We help you meet this challenge.

• Establishing internal company processes
• Providing training in dealing with employee inventions and their inventors 
• Drawing up guidelines in line with your corporate strategy
• Developing remuneration models

Our work on know-how protection is of note. We advise and represent companies in connection with unlawful third-party exploitation of know-how and develop in-house protection strategies and mechanisms.

• Coordination of civil and criminal law measures to suppress unlawful exploitation
• Know-how analyses
• Development of protection concepts
• Training for employees and department heads

Our significant experience allows us to advise you on all aspects of technology transfers, including:

• R&D-intensive joint ventures
• contracts for in-licencing and out-licencing of know-how and IP rights
• the acquisition or sale of companies
• licencing and cooperation agreements
• all technology-related M&A transactions

Intangible assets, such as patents, are often some of the most valuable assets of a company. We support you throughout all stages of transactions involving IP rights.

• Sale and purchase of IP portfolios
• Asset deals (e.g., sale and purchase of databases, magazines, websites, and platforms)
• IP law aspects of M&A transactions
• Assessment of a company’s IP rights