HOME EXPERTISE DISPUTES Enforcement of property rights

Early and complete market monitoring is of high importance

Patent infringement or trademark infringement - Many infringements of property rights are not identified until very late. We help you avoid making this mistake by assisting you in an effective monitoring of the market and the competition. Examples for possible ways of doing this are making regular visits to relevant trade fairs, carrying out systematic monitoring of publications or undertaking research into competitors’ patents and patent applications.

Preparing trademark and patent infringement suit

If a potential infringement of a property right is identified, a precise analysis of the infringing act and an assessment of the prospects of success of a potential court action enforcing the right are necessary.

This requires the infringing act to be investigated. Sometimes it is the case however, that even acquiring a competitor’s potentially infringing product is difficult, because for example the product is still in a prototype phase. Particularly in cases of patents for manufacturing methods, there often is the additional problem that the actual infringement of the property right is not itself accessible, but rather the products obtained by way of the manufacturing method merely suggest an infringement of the property right. In such cases, rights of inspection can be applied for in the courts so as to allow a possible infringement of property rights to be investigated in detail.

Estimating chances of success

If enough information on the property right infringement is available, we start the analysis of prospects for success in a court action enforcing property rights. This analysis is useful irrespective of whether court proceedings on enforcing property rights are actually envisaged. The prospects of success always determine the strength of negotiating positions in pre-court or out-of-court discussions.

Ultimately, the possibility of successfully enforcing property rights in court always constitutes the yardstick for the quality of the property right.

Often, analysis of the legal validity of the property right is also necessary in order for the prospects of success of a defense to a property-rights infringement action can be assessed.

In many cases, earlier prior art exists which can cast doubt on the validity of the property rights. Under certain circumstances this can constitute a significant financial risk associated with the enforcement of property rights.

We will draw on our experience to help you to identify and analyze infringements of your property rights at an early stage. Assessing the prospects of success in court proceedings for the enforcement of property rights is another of our strengths: we will help you always to evaluate accurately and minimize the risks for you and your company that are associated with the enforcement of property rights.

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