Trademarks

Trademarks belong to identification mark rights and should enable their holder to distinguish their services and their goods from the goods and services of competitors.

As trademarks are associated with quality consumers are willing to pay adequately for branded goods and services. Therefore, trademarks have become more and more important for the competitive position and especially for the defense against copycats and trademark pirates. Recently, the acquisition of trademarks has been considerable simplified because of the international treaties like the Madrid Protocol and the European Union trade mark regulation ensuring protection with broad regional coverage at advantageous conditions in a uniform procedure.

Actions before GPTO and/or EUIPO:

• For national German trademark applications the appointment of a representative is neccessary if applicant is not resided or established in Germany.
• For European Union trademark applications the appointment of a professional representative is necessary if applicant is not resided or established in the European Community.
• German and European Union trade mark applications are examined based on absolute grounds. An examination regarding relative grounds is only carried out during opposition proceedings. Time limit for filing an opposition is 3 months from publication of the application (EUTM) or publication of registration (German trademark).

For further information don’t hesitate to contact us.