Intellectual property is the basis for success in many companies. Therefore, immense importance should be given to the protection of this property, not only so as not to jeopardise future entrepreneurial success, but also to protect against product and trademark piracy and counterfeiting. Our intellectual property and copyright team has extensive experience in protecting existing assets, in creating and establishing new trademarks or rebranding. Thinking strategically and professionally, our advisors put themselves in your company's position.
Our team provides advice at the highest level on industrial property rights, such as trademarks, utility models, patents and species protection rights, as well as on competition, advertising, copyright, press and media law. Our experts always support you in a goal-oriented manner, both in concrete cases of infringement and in the development and implementation of basic IP concepts to secure and optimise your IP portfolio.
We can advise you on drafting contracts, represent your interests in contract negotiations and enforce your rights out of court, in arbitration proceedings and before German, European and Asian courts. If third countries are affected and we do not have our own office in that country, we work closely with our local partner law firms: because in the global age, worldwide brand protection should be considered at all costs.
We advise individual companies as well as international groups. In addition, as a full-service law firm, we can always call in our colleagues from other practice areas, such as tax and transfer pricing experts.
Our broad range of advisory services is rounded off by the outstanding expertise of our team in the reviewing, designing and negotiating of research and development projects, including know-how protection agreements and non-disclosure agreements.
Our lawyers are very familiar with their conception: with the entry into force of the German "Trade Secret Protection Act" (GeschGehG), which is based on the EU Know-how Directive, the requirements for the protection of business and company secrets in companies have changed fundamentally. Regardless of whether secret recipes, purchase prices or customer lists are concerned, the implementation and documentation of "appropriate confidentiality measures" is now always necessary if companies want to invoke the civil and criminal protection of information that secures their competitive advantage.
We can advise you on all aspects of the new legal situation, from the adaptation of your employee and supplier documents (keyword: "NDA") to providing training at all levels within your company up to and including the creation of comprehensive concepts for the protection of secrets. In doing so, we are always aware of the costs, because wherever there are synergies with established processes in your company (e.g. data protection, IP protection or Information Security Management System (ISMS)), we will include them in a cost-saving way.
Key Contact >>
Julian Adams
Associate
Hamburg
Silvia C. Bauer
Partner
Cologne
Dr Daniel Bischof
Counsel
Hamburg
Dr Maximilian Dorndorf
Partner
Essen
Adrian Freidank
Counsel
Cologne
István Fancsik, LL.M. (London)
Senior Associate
Essen
Jonny H. Giessel
Senior Associate
Frankfurt a.M.
Dr Stefanie Hellmich, LL.M.
Partner
Frankfurt a.M.
Felix Hielscher
Senior Associate
Stuttgart
Laura Hoffmann, LL.M. (Dresden/London)
Senior Associate
Frankfurt a.M.
Johannes Klausch, LL.M. (London)
Partner
Berlin
Elisabeth Kohoutek
Partner
Frankfurt a.M.
Christian Kuß, LL.M.
Partner
Cologne
Stefanie Kandzia, LL.M.
Senior Associate
Hamburg
Lutz Keller
Senior Associate
Cologne
Iris López Martínez, LL.M.
Senior Associate
Berlin
Niccolo Langenheim, LL.M.
Associate
Cologne
Dr Detlef Mäder
Partner
Cologne,
Dusseldorf
Franziska Maier, LL.M. (UCLA)
Associate
Stuttgart
Anna-Laura Martens
Associate
Berlin
Alina Moers
Associate
Cologne
Dr Kay Oelschlägel
Partner
Hamburg
Michelle Petruzzelli
Senior Associate
Cologne
Dr Katharina Preuss
Senior Associate
Cologne
Christina Rygula, LL.M. (Dublin)
Senior Associate
Hamburg
Manuel Rueß
Associate
Hamburg
Dr Markus Sengpiel
Managing Partner
Cologne
Dr Wulff-Axel Schmidt
Partner
Frankfurt a.M.
Dr Geert Johann Seelig
Partner
Hamburg
Carsten Andreas Senze
Partner
Stuttgart
Leif Dustin Schneider
Counsel
Ho Chi Minh City
Dr Aline Mück
Senior Associate
Cologne
Tobias Schneider
Senior Associate
Cologne
Anja Schwarz, LL.M. (London)
Senior Associate
Cologne
Dr Thomas Schwieters
Associate
Hanover
Pierre Daniel Wittmann
Senior Associate
Frankfurt a.M.
Jan Zimmer
Senior Associate
Singapore