Design law

Form, colour, material, surface structure - all this and much more belongs to a good design.

After you have put your heart and soul, your time and probably your money into creating an attractive and promising appearance for your product, you and not a competitor should ultimately benefit from it. In addition, it is essential that your design is well protected from a legal point of view.

You can protect your design (also called design) by registering it with the German Patent and Trademark Office (GPTO) for the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, with the Office of the European Union for Intellectual Property (EUIPO) for the territory of the European Union or with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in many other countries. Registration offers you the advantage of protection for up to 25 years. Non-registered designs, on the other hand, offer you protection for only three years. Legal disputes are also more successful if you can proceed from a registered right. Since design applications - especially in comparison to a disputed dispute - are inexpensive, an application is extremely sensible and attractive.

In order to overcome the hurdles for the filing of a design application, your product must in particular be designable and new as well as have a unique character. We will be happy to assist you in examining and highlighting these characteristics, as well as in the entire application process and beyond.

What we can do for you:

• Examination and advice on the most effective protection,
• Registration and preparation of registration,
• Perform correspondence with the authorities,
•  Defending your registered and unregistered rights, both in and out of court.