Credentials

We are constantly active in judicial and extra-judicial matters associated with the protection of intellectual property and copyrights. In figures this means: in 2010, we soughtregistration of more than 40 trademarks and designs with the German Patent and Trademark Office, the Office of Harmonization for the Internal Market or the international office at the World Intellectual Property Organization. In addition, we conducted a triple-digit number of legal procedures in the fields of trademark law, competition law, patent law, copyright of designs and copyright law, some of which we would like to present in more detail:

We filed a suit in the Landgericht [District Court] Frankfurt am Main on behalf of a US-American holder of a process patent. The legal dispute was resolved by way of a settlement that nearly equalled the original claim.

We represented the owner of a hospital, who had been sued, before the trademark division of the Landgericht [District Court] Kiel. The action for change of the client's company name and injunction on the further use of his internet domain was dismissed after two oral hearings on the basis of our legal submissions.

A service company likewise relied on our expertise in a competition-related dispute before the commercial division of the Landgericht [District Court] Cottbus. After a client received a cease-and-desist letter from a competitor requiring changes to his advertising and offering methods, we filed a so called "negative Feststellungsklage" [action for negative declaratory relief] on his behalf. Following receipt of a notification by the court, the competitor acknowledged the claims.

In the German Patent and Trademark Office and the Bundespatentgericht [Federal Patents Court], we conducted trademark cancellation proceedings on behalf of an agricultural services company. These proceedings, which resulted in cancellation of the trademark in accordance with our petition, were part of a more complex dispute that also involved the Oberlandesgericht [Higher Regional Court] Frankfurt. In the end, also due to these cancellation proceedings, the dispute was settled in favour of our client as was our intention.

A well-known film series actor retained us to assert his rights to information and remuneration versus the film distributor. We filed action with the Landgericht [District Court] Mainz, which was decided fully in favour of the claimant.

Upon receiving a cease-and-desist letter from a competition association, a chain of hairdressers active in the south of Germany entrusted us with the representation in arbitration proceedings before the Industrie- und Handelskammer [Chamber of Commerce] in Nuremberg. Following our submissions regarding the facts and the legal circumstances, the association decided to refrain from further pursuing its claim due to allegedly misleading advertising.

Before the copyright division of the Landgericht [District Court] Frankfurt and on behalf of a graphic design agency, we obtained injunctive relief and asserted a remuneration claim against a health food chain. The action was based on unauthorised use of graphics in the chain's advertising material.