Patent and Utility Model Law

Technical inventions can be protected as a patent or German utility model.

In the field of patent and utility model law, we offer you, in particular, the following services:

Evaluation of your invention regarding its protectability
Research on current technology status including Freedom-to-Operate searches
Application for patents at the German, European and international offices
Application for utility models at the German Patent and Trademark Office
Extrajudicial and judicial enforcement of patent and utility model claims (injunctive relief, damages, information on sources of supply, confiscation)
Prosecution of counterfeit products
Written warnings, filing for preliminary injunctions and legal proceedings
Defense against claims under patent and utility model law, including examination of warnings and preventive filing of protective letters
Counselling and representation in the case of employee inventions

In order for a patent to be granted, a precondition is that the invention is new, based on an inventive acitivity and can be applied commercially. An invention is new if it is not already state of the art. What inventors tend to overlook is that own publications about the invention that occur before the invention was filed as a patent, already fall within the state of art. Hence, patents are only to be registered before the inventor has given a talk or written an article about the invention or presented the invention on a fair.

To the owner of the patent, the patent grants the exclusive right to manufacture the patented product or utilize the patented process. Patent protection is granted for a maximum of 20 years starting from the filing date.