Blog - Patents, Trademarks & Designs

Assessing the patentability of an invention: prior art search

Justus Kreuels - 8. January 2025

In patent law, prior art refers to all information and publications on a technical invention that were available to the public at the time the patent application was filed.

Patent search: procedure and databases

Justus Kreuels - 7. November 2024

A patent search is carried out before filing a patent application. Information on patents and utility models published worldwide is publicly available and can be searched, for example, in the online databases of the DPMA, EPO and WIPO.

The protection of trade secrets

Philipp Henrichs - 8. October 2024

The Trade Secrets Protection Act serves to protect confidential information. In addition to legal measures, companies should also define technical and organizational regulations in order to effectively protect their trade secrets.

Registering and protecting utility models

Justus Kreuels - 19. August 2024

The utility model is an industrial property right for technical inventions. It enables smaller, everyday innovations to be protected inexpensively and easily.

The new EU design law

Philipp Henrichs - 24. July 2024

In addition to strengthening design protection in the EU, the aim of the reform of EU design law is to simplify the processes for applying for and registering designs and to extend the definition of a product to include digital products and technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics and 3D printing.

Artificial intelligence is not an inventor

Justus Kreuels - 5. July 2024

For an invention created with an AI, a natural person must be registered as the inventor of the patent application. The Federal Court of Justice ruled that an artificial intelligence cannot acquire any rights.