Patents and utility models provide effective protection for your technical developments against unwanted imitation for up to 20 years. It’s not always necessary to reinvent the wheel to obtain this protection. Often, small advancements over the prior art are sufficient to grant a patent or register a utility model.

Our patent attorneys’ technical and legal expertise is particularly sought after when drafting new patent and utility model applications. It’s often crucial to grasp complex technical concepts in their entirety and abstract them to formulate a protection claim that’s both precise and as broadly worded as possible. Our goal is to achieve the best possible protection for every technical invention. For internationally relevant inventions, it’s often advisable to first file an application with the German Patent and Trademark Office, and then, within the so-called priority year, file a European patent application or an international (PCT) patent application once the available protection can be assessed. We routinely coordinate the subsequent, sometimes complex grant proceedings, including those in non-European countries, with local partner law firms.

You can also rely on our patent attorneys’ expertise and our extensive experience in enforcement and defense of your patents and utility models against competition, including litigation before the relevant regional courts and higher regional courts, and, in particular, opposition and appeal proceedings before the German Patent and Trademark Office and the European Patent Office.