IP & Copyright Law

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.

Our range of advisory services

  • Advising on all matters pertaining to copyright law, in particular, user agreements and licensing systems
  • Drafting and negotiating licence agreements
  • Advising on competition and advertising law
  • Assisting with application and registration procedures concerning intellectual property rights, such as trademarks, designs, utility models and patents, both domestically and abroad
  • Carrying out a legal analysis of IP portfolios and providing strategic advice
  • Developing and implementing protection strategies
  • Advising on the purchase and sale of industrial property rights
  • Defending industrial property rights
  • Enforcing IP rights in court
  • Advising on the use of IP rights (e.g. as security for loans), including assisting with the respective contract negotiations
  • Drafting and negotiations
  • Advising on the German Trade Secret Protection Act (GeschGehG)
  • Adapting employee and supplier documents
  • Training management and employees
  • Creating comprehensive concepts for the protection of secrets
  • Further information and templates can be found on our page specifically set up to provide information in this regard and on info page and on our blog

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Key Contact >>

Key Contact

Dr Wulff-Axel Schmidt

Partner

T +49 69 27229 27078

Dr Detlef Mäder

Partner

T +49 221 9937 25711

Dr Geert Johann Seelig

Partner

T +49 40 18067 16807

Carsten Andreas Senze

Partner

T +49 711 9338 25222

Team IP & Copyright Law

Dr Jörg Alshut
Partner
Berlin

Silvia C. Bauer
Partner
Cologne

Dr Daniel Bischof
Senior Associate
Hamburg

Dr Maximilian Dorndorf
Partner
Essen

Adrian Freidank
Counsel
Cologne

István Fancsik, LL.M. (London)
Senior Associate
Essen

Johnny H. Giessel
Associate
Frankfurt a.M.

Dennis Göbel
Associate
Cologne

Dr Stefanie Hellmich, LL.M.
Partner
Frankfurt a.M.

Laura Hoffmann, LL.M. (Dresden/London)
Senior Associate
Frankfurt a.M.

Felix Hielscher
Associate
Stuttgart

Johannes Klausch, LL.M. (London)
Partner
Ho Chi Minh City, Berlin

Christian Kuß, LL.M.
Partner
Cologne

Lutz Keller
Senior Associate
Cologne

Stefanie Kandzia, LL.M.
Associate
Hamburg

Niccolo Langenheim, LL.M.
Associate
Cologne

Dr Detlef Mäder
Partner
Cologne, Dusseldorf

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

Tobias Schneider
Senior Associate
Cologne

Anja Schwarz, LL.M. (London)
Senior Associate
Cologne

Laura Stahmer-Rüdisühli, lic. en droit
Senior Associate
Stuttgart

Dr Aline Mück
Associate
Cologne

Dr Lajana von zur Gathen
Associate
Berlin

Pierre Daniel Wittmann
Senior Associate
Frankfurt a.M.

Jan Zimmer
Senior Associate
Singapore