Competition & Property Rights

Specialists in Industrial Property Law and Competition Law

In an increasingly fierce competitive environment, it is vital for companies to position themselves optimally and stand out from their competitors. Industrial property law and copyright law offer the means to achieve this.

We can support you in the development of trademark strategies and secure them by registering and defending the corresponding property rights. Trademark administration is one of our core areas of expertise. We optimize your opportunities and reduce your risks in the drafting and negotiation of license and usage rights agreements.

We support you in the development of advertising strategies, check whether your planned claims and packaging are feasible and, where necessary, suggest legally watertight alternatives.

It goes without saying that we can also defend your interests effectively in the event of a dispute. In the event that your company is hit with a warning or preliminary injunction, we will advise you comprehensively on all possible courses of action and help you develop defense strategies that are optimal and economically viable for your company.

If your property rights are infringed, we will take all necessary steps at the earliest opportunity to scrupulously safeguard your interests. In each case, the specific factual and legal situation will determine whether we initiate legal action immediately (e.g. by way of a preliminary injunction) or contact the infringer first (usually by way of a warning). In any case, injunctive relief is the first priority.

International Network
Our scope of action is not limited to Germany; in fact, we maintain an extensive worldwide network of skilled attorneys who can file national trademark applications or prosecute property right infringements on your behalf. We focus on maintaining intensive cooperation with our colleagues and coordinating all important steps with you.

In addition to the comprehensive legal advisory services described above, we can also offer further services, e.g. lectures and training events for your employees and regular in-house seminars on topical issues. Feel free to get in touch!

Antitrust Law

Our expertise in this field covers all areas of German and European antitrust law. We advise and represent our clients at the German and European antitrust authorities and courts.
Our antitrust practice includes, in particular:
Horizontal and Vertical Agreements
For a large number of contracts, antitrust issues are of great significance for the drafting and negotiation process. This applies, in particular, to supply and distribution agreements, licenses and technology transfer as well as to the structuring and review of joint ventures and other cooperation agreements.
Merger Control
In the merger control field, we advise on possible antitrust requirements and obstacles that may arise in transactions and cooperation arrangements under merger control law. We advise on merger control proceedings both at the Federal Cartel Office and before the European Commission.
In addition, we have extensive experience dealing with abuse of a dominant market position and the prohibition on unreasonable restraints, including the ban on selling below cost price.
We provide training for our clients’ employees and represent our clients before German and European antitrust authorities in the event of antitrust investigations.

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Brand Names & Trademarks

Business names and trademarks are extremely important assets for companies, as are technical inventions and special designs. They are of central importance for the perception of a company in the market and thus for its success. As such, it is equally important to protect these assets optimally and defend them against attacks by third parties.
With this in mind, we develop strategies for the best possible protection of your intellectual property and implement these strategies efficiently. We register national, European and international trademarks, design patents and utility models on your behalf and represent you in opposition, nullity or cancellation proceedings. As a result, you have no need to worry about keeping deadlines or observing other formalities – we take care of the entire trademark administration workload. We also have a worldwide network of specialized colleagues that can help us protect your rights abroad.
If third parties infringe your trademarks, design patents or utility models, we will enforce your rights quickly and efficiently using warnings and preliminary injunction proceedings.
It is equally important that you avoid accidentally infringing the intellectual property rights of third parties, since this can result in very substantial claims for damages. In light of this, we carry out the appropriate searches on your behalf and advise you as to which names, trademarks, designs and utility models you may and may not apply for and use. If claims are made against you by third parties, we will defend your interests in court or achieve the best possible solution in out-of-court negotiations.
Finally, we can support you in the licensing of property rights and the implementation of brand cooperations by drafting and negotiating the relevant contracts.

Design & Technical Inventions

Business names and trademarks are extremely important assets for companies, as are technical inventions and special designs. They are of central importance for the perception of a company in the market and thus for its success.
With this in mind, we develop strategies for the best possible protection of your intellectual property and implement these strategies efficiently. We register national, European and international trademarks, design patents and utility models on your behalf and represent you in opposition, nullity or cancellation proceedings. As a result, you have no need to worry about keeping deadlines or observing other formalities – we take care of the entire trademark administration workload. We also have a worldwide network of specialized colleagues that can help us protect your rights abroad.

Copyright Law

We advise both authors of creative works (e.g. writers, designers, photographers and advertising agencies) and their contractual partners (e.g. brand manufacturers and trade and service companies) on the exploitation of copyrighted works.
Our work in this field focuses particularly on the drafting of the corresponding license agreements. In the event that your rights are infringed, particularly in the event of plagiarism and infringements of license agreements, we can assert your interests in and out of court and support you in the enforcement or defense of injunctive relief and claims for damages.

IT & E-Commerce

IT services continue to promise significant long-term growth as part of modern work and production processes.
As a result, IT and e-commerce service providers are faced with a continuous stream of new technical, economic and legal challenges – as are the companies who work with them. For one thing, they must navigate a continuously changing legal framework significantly influenced by European Community law; for another, they require significant guidance to successfully negotiate contracts oriented towards dynamically improving business models. In addition to specific legal know-how, advising successfully in this area thus requires a thorough understanding of the commercial and technical peculiarities of these markets.
We can advise on all areas of IT and e-commerce law, including related issues of intellectual property. This includes, in particular, software licenses, contractual arrangements for common IT services (software development, hosting, application support, hardware and software operation, consulting, system integration, etc.), outsourcing projects and legal disputes and litigation.

Fraudulent Competition

In times of increasingly fierce and fast-moving competition, attractive advertising concepts and product positioning are more important than ever before.
However, the line between attention-grabbing and misleading advertising is often extremely thin. The so-called “blacklist” of impermissible advertising measures, which was incorporated last year into the German law against unfair competition, contains a number of legal hurdles to be overcome.
The same applies to me-too products. Here, too, you need to know the boundary between what is still permissible and what has been made illegal in order to be able to react appropriately to developments on the market.
We begin advising brand manufacturers, trade and service companies and advertising agencies in the conception phase of campaigns and product design. In this way, we contribute to the development of attractive, attention-grabbing product and advertising concepts that are also legally watertight.
If your rights are violated by unfair advertising measures by your competitors, we can enforce your rights quickly and efficiently using warnings and, where necessary, by obtaining injunctions.
Of course, we can also defend you in the event that competitors take legal action against your advertising and demand the submission of cease-and-desist declarations.