Product

development

It is a long road from the first idea to the market launch of a product. With us, you avoid unpleasant surprises caused by older brands or designs and ensure the necessary protection of your concepts.

Produktpolitik

Why is it important?

Already in the development phase, legal aspects have to be considered, which later are decisive for the success of your product. For example, it should be decided in the course of product development which intellectual property rights should be registered for the product. This will significantly define how you can later position your product on the market and defend it against competitors. In addition, competitors' intellectual property rights should be explored in order to prevent them from being able to prevent the later distribution of the product, for example on the basis of older trademark rights. It is therefore advisable to consider the legal framework conditions as early as possible in the product development process.

This is how we can assist you with our consulting services:

We organise the legal protection of your products - be it through trademarks, designs, know-how protection, utility models or patents.

The question whether - and if so how - your product is legally protected or can be protected is of decisive importance for the economic success of the product. For this reason, we advise you as early as the product development stage on the protectability of your product, in particular on how you can optimally exploit the legal protection possibilities.

In the case of non-technical registered industrial property rights (trademarks, designs), we will advise you comprehensively on the selection and conception of the appropriate industrial property right (for example: word brand or word/picture brand?, scope of the goods and services,

directory of services, German design or Community design?). Here it is important to make the right basic strategic decisions.

Copyright law has a special status insofar as it already arises through the creation of the work, so that no entry in a register is required. Nevertheless, copyrights must also be taken into account in the context of product development. This applies in particular if the product contains copyrighted services of third parties. The distribution of the product is then only possible with a corresponding license from the copyright holder.

When applying for technical property rights, we cooperate with patent law firms, which we are happy to commission with the application for a patent or utility model. At your request, we will be happy to take over the entire handling and coordination of this process.

Development of an individual brand strategy

Brands have many valuable characteristics and functions. On the one hand, they are an important instrument to differentiate goods and services of a company from those of its competitors and thus to keep the competitors at a distance. On the other hand, brands as immaterial corporate values have a decisive influence on the value of a company.

An early, individual and long-term brand strategy is therefore absolutely necessary in order to establish a strong and assertive brand on the market. This applies in particular to the question of the international reach of the brand. We advise you both in the development of a trademark strategy and in the registration of trademarks with the trademark offices.

In addition, we are also happy to monitor and defend your trademark rights on a national, European and international level. For this purpose, we can draw on a worldwide network of correspondent attorneys who, with their specialist knowledge of the law of the individual countries, provide valuable support.

Search for conflicting trademarks / designs

 

Before filing a trademark application, it is important to identify any conflicting industrial property rights of third parties in the trademark / design registers. These do not initially stand in the way of registration of the trademark or design, but the trademark or design does not have long-term validity if third parties can oppose older industrial property rights.The effort you would like to put into this search depends entirely on the individual case, whereby costs and risk should always be placed in a reasonable proportion. Depending on the effort required, we may also commission a specialised service provider to carry out the search. The evaluation of the results, however, remains in our hands.

Registration of trademarks and designs at national, European or international level

 

 After developing a trademark/design strategy and searching for conflicting trademarks or designs, an application for registration of the trademark or design must be filed with the relevant national or European trademark office. This involves much more than just filling out a form. In particular, we advise you as to whether the designation you have chosen is eligible for protection as a trademark or whether objections can be expected from the trademark office. This may be the case, for example, if the trademark is descriptive of the goods or services or is devoid of distinctive character. We know the details of the application procedure and will handle the application as decided within the framework of the trademark strategy. In practice, the offices sometimes complain about the application, in the technical language "query". We will also be pleased to take care of this for you.

Judicial and extrajudicial defence of trademark rights / designs / copyrights

 

In the event of infringement, it is important to initiate legal proceedings promptly. This applies in particular if a temporary injunction is to be obtained. This means that a violation can be prohibited within a short period of time. We advise you comprehensively on the chances of success of a judicial or extrajudicial action for infringement of your trademark, design or copyright rights. This includes, in particular, warnings or authorization requests to (potential) infringers and representation in preliminary injunction proceedings or in action proceedings. In addition, we represent you in opposition and cancellation proceedings before the trademark offices.