Technical Property Rights & Know-how

Innovations, research and development, and technical know-how are the engines of a knowledge-driven economy. Technical property rights and know-how protection are important strategic means of securing investments in the future and ensuring the best possible exploitation by owners. We consider ourselves strategic advisors to our clients in developing, protecting, and applying new technologies. Together, we develop tailor-made concepts to accompany innovations from the very beginning and to secure and exploit associated investments in the best possible way. We also take account of the fact that technical developments are increasingly taking place in digital technologies and that classical intellectual property strategies are facing entirely new challenges due to ever shortening innovation cycles.

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Research at the level of the 21st century would hardly be possible without patent law.

It is only through the possibility of technical property rights and know-how protection that investments can be insured to guarantee best possible exploitation by rightsholders. In other words: Invention must be worthwhile and it is only so through patent protection.
We consider ourselves strategic advisors to our clients in developing, protecting, and applying new technologies. Together, we develop tailor-made concepts to accompany innovations from the very beginning and to secure and exploit associated investments in the best possible way. We also take account of the fact that technical developments are increasingly taking place in digital technologies and that classical intellectual property strategies are facing entirely new challenges due to ever shortening innovation cycles.

Developing innovation and creating knowledge

We accompany your company from the very beginning in developing new technologies, always keeping in mind that such innovations, which usually involve considerable investment, should also be used commercially as successfully as possible at a later point in time. It is important to take the right measures from the outset to ensure that the protectability of innovations is not jeopardized. Topics such as using AI in research and development and data-based innovations are also becoming increasingly relevant.

Our advisory fields include:

research and development contracts
development cooperation / joint ventures
know-how protection
employee inventions
freedom to operate analyses
impact of using AI in research

Securing innovation

To use innovations economically successfully, they must be protected against imitation and know-how theft. Only sufficiently secured know-how represents usable value for a company. There is no single way to achieve proper protection. Rather, it must be developed on a product-related basis and in consideration of the market environment. Especially for digital technologies, the question arises increasingly whether the conventional patent system still cope with the sometimes very dynamic innovation cycles or whether other protection strategies, such as stringent know-how protection, are more sensible and economical.

Our advisory fields include:

auditing existing know-how protection measures and analysis of weak points
developing holistic protection strategies to safeguard know-how and trade secrets, including technological and organizational measures
developing a property rights strategy
registration and administration of intellectual property rights in collaboration with external patent law firms

Defense and litigation

Technological developments are sometimes running into problems – be it that you have to protect your property rights against unauthorized use or that you are challenged by third parties because of alleged property right infringements.

Our advisory fields include:

avoidance of property right infringements, circumvention analyses
implementation of infringement proceedings, such as
- carrying out submissions and inspection proceedings and other proceedings for the preservation of evidence
- border seizure proceedings
- trade show proceedings
- temporary injunctions, criminal and civil proceedings
defense against challenges of alleged property rights
- freedom to operate analyses
- advice on bypass solutions
- invalidity, opposition and cancelation proceedings

Economic exploitation

Technical property rights and know-how seldom have an end in themselves but, like any investment, serve to be used as profitably as possible. We advise you on the valuation of your IP assets and collaborate with you to develop the best possible way to use them economically.