Are you accused of a trademark infringement or trademark violation in Germany and have you received a warning letter (German: “Abmahnung”)? Or is your trademark copied or abused by someone else? Our German Intellectual Property Law Firm with a Patent Attorney and Certified IP Lawyer assists you in these and other matters. Just contact us for further information.

As specialists in intellectual property law and in trademark law in Germany (and Europe) our IP Law Firm helps clients in both variants: being the defense against attacks from third parties as well as the attack on others based on violations of trademarks of clients like German trademarks or Union trade marks (“EU trademarks”).

In short there are the following options:

Alleged trademark violations by you:

In case you are supposed to violate another trade mark in Germany or Europe the normal proceeding is that you are contacted by the trademark owner or his attorney by a so called warning letter (German: “Abmahnung”) and they want the signing of a cease-and-desist declaration (German: “Unterlassungserklärung”) to prevent future violations. In addition to that the reimbursement of lawyer’s fees is often demanded. Due to a relatively high value in dispute (German: “Streitwert”) in cases like this the fees of the acting attorney often amount to thousands of Euros. If you don’t or don’t react properly to such a warning letter a further legal proceeding (e.g. interim injunction or principal proceeding) may follow which leads to a higher financial risk and sometimes severe consequences.

To avoid a worsening of the situation and to potentially defend successfully (or at least to reduce the negative consequences) a timely involvement of a specialist (e.g. Intellectual Property Lawyer or Patent Attorney) is generally recommendable.

Infringement of your German or European Union trademark:

In the other case where a third party is infringing your IP rights like your German trademark registration or your European Union trademark also a timely reaction is required when you notice it (e.g. to keep the strict deadline for a temporary injunction). Once you are aware of the violation and the responsible person or company it is recommendable to let the alleged infringement check by a trademark specialist (like a Patent Attorney or IP Lawyer) to determine if there is a real violation or to assess the chances for the further steps. After that and in a normal proceeding the copy-cat is contacted with a warning letter and an immediate omission of the infringement is demanded (together with further claims like a reimbursement of lawyer’s fees and maybe also additional demands e.g. for information, damages etc.). In case no agreement can be found a court can be involved.

We are looking forward to assist clients in all of the above-mentioned matters including the enforcement of intellectual property rights in Germany (and Europe). Just contact our IP Law Firm and ask for Dr. Florian Lichtnecker (Certified Intellectual Property Lawyer) to discuss the next steps.