Blog - Patents, Trademarks & Designs
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.
Patent drawings as part of a patent application
Justus Kreuels - 1. July 2024
When filing a patent application, drawings can also be submitted in order to illustrate and explain the invention or the product to be protected in the best possible way.
Standard-essential patents (SEP)
Justus Kreuels - 1. July 2024
In rapidly developing high-tech sectors such as telecommunications, standards are crucial for promoting innovation. They create a uniform technological basis and thus enable the compatibility of products. More about standard-essential patents ...
Unitary patent and Unified Patent Court (UPC)
Justus Kreuels - 5. June 2023
As of June 1, 2023, when the UPC Agreement enters into force, unitary patents can be applied for or registered at the European Patent Office (EPO).
The unitary patent makes it possible to grant a patent with the same effect in 17 EU member states.
Opposition against the grant of a patent
Justus Kreuels - 26. January 2023
After a patent has been granted, third parties have the opportunity to file an opposition against a German patent or a European patent within nine months. Continuous monitoring of IP grants is recommended in order to identify, among other things, patents against which an opposition should be filed in good time.
Third Party Observation in European Patent Law
Justus Kreuels - 14. June 2022
Under the European Patent Convention (EPC), any third party may file with the EPO observations to the patentability of an invention which is the subject of a published European patent application if one sees grounds which might prevent the grant of a patent.
US Patent Law: Patent application in the USA
Justus Kreuels - 18. November 2021
Companies planning to apply for a patent (utility patent) or a design (design patent) in the USA should familiarise themselves with the particularities of US patent law. Filing patents in the USA can be an interesting option, especially since a granted US patent is valid for all US states nationwide.
The importance of patent pending in Germany
Justus Kreuels - 1. June 2021
Products for which a patent application has been filed are often launched before the patent is granted. If the applicant wants to draw attention to the IP right during the examination phase, caution is required, because advertising measures with the indication "patent pending" can be judged as misleading in Germany. What it's all about and how you can put it into practice.
Employee Invention: What to consider?
Justus Kreuels - 6. April 2020
A large number of the annual patent applications at the GPTO are employee inventions. The first step is to clarify whether the invention is a service invention or a free invention.
Patent protection for startups and founders
Justus Kreuels - 11. April 2019
With the start of their entrepreneurial activity, start-ups should think about the protection of their intellectual property. Especially for technology-driven young companies, it is important to deal with the various possibilities offered by patent law and related areas of law. After all, the goal is to create a technological and economic advantage over competitors.
Costs of an International Patent
Justus Kreuels - 30. April 2018
This article gives you a short overview regarding the usual costs of an international patent. The actual costs differ strongly from case to case. The article is therefore more a guideline for calculating the costs of an international patent family than a concrete cost example.