Services at a glance
Industrial property rights protect intellectual property (IP) from imitation and exploitation by competitors.
Patent law with technical expertise and legal precision
The combination of technology and law, tradition and innovation, is equally reflective of the expertise and experience of the lawyers and staff at Durm Patentanwälte; it forms the basis for highly qualified advice and successful legal practice in the complex field of intellectual property law, particularly patent and trade mark law.
Patent law with technical expertise and legal precision
The combination of technology and law, tradition and innovation, is equally reflective of the expertise and experience of the lawyers and staff at Durm Patentanwälte; it forms the basis for highly qualified advice and successful legal practice in the complex field of intellectual property law, particularly patent and trade mark law.
Patent Attorneys and European Patent, Trademark and Design Attorneys
The patent attorneys at Durm are engineers or scientists who have also completed extensive legal training in the field of intellectual property law.
Attorneys
FAQ
Technical inventions that are new, involve an inventive step and are capable of industrial application may be patented. Examples include machines, electronic devices, chemical processes, software with a technical effect, or new manufacturing processes.
By contrast, pure ideas, scientific theories, mathematical methods or aesthetic designs are not patentable. Business methods without a technical basis are also generally not patentable.
The decisive factor is that the invention represents a technical solution to a technical problem. Whether a specific idea is actually patentable can usually only be assessed after a search of the prior art.
Our patent attorneys will be happy to advise you on this matter.
These intellectual property rights can be obtained through grant or registration and protect different aspects of an innovation.
• Patent: Protects technical inventions (e.g. machines, processes). Valid for up to 20 years.
• Utility model: Also for technical inventions, but without examination and with a maximum term of 10 years.
• Trademark: Protects names, logos or symbols that identify products or services.
• Design (registered design): Protects the external appearance of a product, e.g. its shape or appearance.
Which intellectual property right is appropriate depends on the nature of the innovation and the business strategy.
Our patent attorneys will be happy to advise you on this.
A European patent is applied for at the European Patent Office (EPO), where it is examined under a centralised procedure.
Once granted, the patent can be validated in the desired countries, with a choice of the 39 contracting states of the European Patent Convention (EPC). Since 2023, it has also been possible to obtain a unitary patent, which is valid in many EU countries simultaneously.
The advantage of a European patent is that a single application can cover several countries, rather than having to apply for separate national patents.
Our patent attorneys will be happy to advise you on this matter.