Patents are granted by patent offices for technical inventions. Utility models are also considered technical property rights and are often referred to as "small patents".

The fact that patents and utility models are granted for technical inventions distinguishes them from other intellectual property rights, such as trademarks and designs.

Applicants based in Germany or Europe are not subject to mandatory representation, i.e. those applicants do not actually have to appoint a patent attorney to apply for a patent or utility model, but there are a number of legal pitfalls that need to be taken into account when conducting proceedings. In addition, deadlines must be met and the correct official fees paid in order to avoid unintentional expiry of your property right. For these formal reasons alone, it is advisable to use the services of a patent attorney to represent you as an inventor and/or applicant before the respective patent office in order to maximize your chances of obtaining a patent.

Our interdisciplinary teams support you throughout the whole process. From the beginning, our attorneys work closely with the inventors in order to extract the core of the invention and draft it on paper. Once the patent application is finalized, we guide you through the filing and examination procedure until you reach a grant of the patent. Should an opposition be filed against your patent after it has been granted, our experienced attorneys are able to advise and support you through the proceedings. Furthermore, should you wish to enforce your intellectual property rights against third parties, or need assistance in defending such allegations, we provide comprehensive representation in all matters, working closely with an attorney at law, for example for an infringement action.

Our patent attorneys will represent you not only before the German Patent and Trademark Office (GPTO), the European Patent Office (EPO), the Italian Patent Office, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) or the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), but also before the European Unified Patent Court (UPC) and all national regional courts and higher regional courts, the Federal Court of Justice and the European Court of Justice.

The firm has particular expertise in dealing with standard-relevant patents, i.e. patents on inventions that were made to improve certain standards, such as standards in the field of audio compression, e.g. MP3, AAC or USAC, standards in the field of image and video compression, e.g. H.264, HEEVC, VVC, VP9, AV1, JPEG, mobile communications standards such as 4G and 5G, and other standards such as those relating to streaming, telephony and many more. Due to our responsibility for standard-relevant patent families, our firm has experience in patent grant proceedings in a large number of countries around the world, where we cooperate with selected partner law firms. As a result, our firm is able to coordinate grant proceedings before the various patent offices efficiently and reliably for our clients. Of course, we make sure that we handle the prosecution of intellectual property rights with the utmost of care as expected by our clients.