Dr. Solf & zapf
Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights
Your Partner for enforcing intellectual property rights
Dr. Solf & zapf
DIE ANMELDUNG VON SCHUTZRECHTEN
Ihr Partner bei der rechtzeitigen und sicheren Anmeldung von Schutzrechten
Trademark Rights
The acquisition of an intellectual property right grants you a monopole in competition. As proprietor of a property right you have the sole right to use your patented invention, your registered trademark or your registered design. A prohibition of use with respect to the protected subject-matter applies for third parties.
Your Right – what third parties are not allowed
Authorization Inquiry
Cease and Desist
Warning Letter
Infringement Trial
Your Right – what third parties are not allowed
- Third parties are not allowed to either produce, offer, bring onto the market, sell, use, apply, import the patented subject-matter or possess for any of these purposes.
- Third parties are not allowed to either use the protected mark in general, a similar mark for identical or similar goods or services or use identical or similar marks in total or partially as a trade name or a corporate name or to use in comparative advertising.
- Third parties are not allowed to reproduce, produce, offer, distribute or sell the protected form of a design.
Authorization Inquiry
Within the framework of a request to show authorization an alleged infringer is asked for which reasons he believes to be entitled to use the protected subject-matter. This step is advisable particularly with respect to protective rights which have been registered without a substantive examination (utility model, trademark, design), since eventually the other party can actually prove a prior right to use, so that your protective right may possibly not be legally valid. Thus, the purpose of an authorization inquiry is to ascertain whether an infringement of a protective right exists at all.
However, if it has already been ascertained that there is an infringement of a protective right and the third party has no prior rights, an authorization inquiry is not necessary.
Cease and Desist Declaration with Penalty
The infringer can (in the case of a real infringement) as a precautionary measure submit a so-called Cease and Desist Declaration with Penalty. With this the infringer declares that it will refrain from a future infringement of your protective right and pay a contractual penalty if an infringement occurs once again.
The Cease and Desist Declaration with Penalty serves the purpose of avoiding a warning letter and the reimbursement of attorney’s fees connected therewith.
Warning Letter
If there is an infringement of your protective right and the infringer did not submit a Cease and Desist Declaration, the infringer’s attention will within the framework of a warning letter be drawn to the unauthorized use and requested to submit a Cease and Desist Declaration with a contractual penalty. You can also demand license payments for the future and compensation for the past. Thus the purpose of the warning letter is to legally enforce your interests. The infringer bears the costs for a justified warning letter. If the other party does not respond to the warning letter or denies an infringement of the protective right, one can pursue an infringement trial.
Infringement Trial
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If the path is beautiful, let us not ask where it leads. my religion is very simple. my religion is kindness. each of us has within our power the ability to disrupt and transform some of the barriers
