Trademarks

At Klickow & Wetzel, we provide you with comprehensive support in the area of trademark law and assist you with the following steps, among others:

Trademark research and consulting

Before applying for a trademark, we check whether there are any obvious obstacles to registration of the desired trademark. Depending on your wishes, we can also check the availability of your desired trademark through identity or extended similarity searches in the relevant official registers. In this way, you can save unnecessary costs for a trademark application if the trademark is foreseeably not registrable, for example because it is descriptive for the goods or services claimed or because the same trademark is already registered for a third party.

Trademark application and registration

We prepare your trademark application and provide you with competent support throughout the entire trademark application process up to registration – for obtaining a German trademark at the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA), for obtaining a European Union trademark at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and for obtaining an international trademark (Madrid system) at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). We realize and support national trademark applications in other countries with the help of our established, worldwide network of correspondent attorneys. In addition to the sign (usually a word, an image or a word/image combination), a trademark application also includes a list of goods and services in which the products for which trademark protection is to be granted must be specified. Our support ensures you optimum trademark protection through the selection of the sign and the precise formulation of the list of goods and services.

Trademark monitoring

Once your trademark has been registered, we reliably monitor possible infringements of your trademark rights on request and react quickly to protect your good name.

Defense and enforcement

In the event of infringements of your trademark rights, we examine these together with you and, if necessary, consistently enforce your claims – both out of court and in court. We defend you against alleged trademark infringements, warnings or lawsuits and your trademarks against alleged lack of legal validity in opposition, revocation or nullity proceedings.

Consulting and strategy development

Our in-depth expertise enables us to develop individual protection strategies for your brand in order to give you a clear competitive advantage in the long term. It is important for you to secure your trademark rights in good time to avoid unpleasant surprises. In trademark law, the principle of the first applicant without novelty requirements applies, so that too long a delay can lead to someone else having already secured your trademark.

Expert opinions and monitoring of property rights

We support you in monitoring the trademark activities of your competitors, identifying potentially relevant third-party trademarks and preparing expert opinions to assess the risk of infringement. If necessary, we take action against critical trademarks through opposition, revocation or invalidity proceedings.

Portfolio management

Even after the trade mark registration, we support you, for example, by monitoring deadlines for the due date of official renewal fees, their payment as well as the fulfillment of other official requirements and the management of your files. As soon as action is required, we will inform you comprehensively and in good time. We are also happy to coordinate changes to the owner data in the official registers as a result of changes or trademark transfers.

Contracts and agreements

If you are planning to transfer or license trademarks, we can advise you on the necessary license agreements and transfer agreements on both the buyer and seller side or as licensor or licensee, prepare draft contracts or review contracts submitted to you by third parties. The same applies to cease-and-desist declarations and coexistence agreements in the context of trademark conflicts.