German Trademark Attorney, Trademark Lawyer

The "specialist attorney for trademark law" does not actually exist in Germany. According to established case law, anyone who calls himself a specialist in trademark law is acting unfairly (e.g. LG Frankfurt am Main BeckRS 2011, 24504; also LG Hamburg in several decisions). Anyone who allows lawyers to advertise in a yellow pages directory with "Fachanwalt für Markenrecht" can also act in an anti-competitive manner (LG Frankfurt MMR 2010, 336). Trademark law is an area of intellectual property law. The "specialist attorney for trademark law" is therefore correctly the specialist attorney for intellectual property law.

Trademark protection in Germany is obtained by registering a sign in the trademark register of the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA). A more or less uniform trademark protection in the 27 member states of Europe arises through registration of a Union trademark at the European Union Intellectual Property Office - EUIPO. By registering a German trademark with WIPO, the German trademark receives the same protection in the member states of the Madrid Agreement as a trademark of the respective member state. However, a trademark can also come into existence through use alone. However, these cases are very rare.

The registration is preceded by the trademark application. Before the application a trademark search is inevitable. This is because the application for a trademark that collides with an older trademark already creates the first risk of trademark infringement.

What can be protected as a trademark?

In principle, words, names, pictures, letter combinations, numbers, acoustic sound sequences, three-dimensional shapes, product packaging, color combinations, tactile marks, and theoretically also smells can be protected as trademarks. Trademarks, however, must be able to be represented graphically. This has not yet been achieved in the case of the latter. In any case, the filing of a chemical formula is not sufficient. Descriptive indications or other absolute grounds for refusal are not registrable as trademarks. In addition, the trademark may not be deceptive about characteristics of the goods/services, contrary to public order, or contain official coats of arms or seals. The use of official coats of arms, flags, seals, test marks is also an administrative offense.

Trademark infringement

Whether the use of a sign is a trademark infringement depends on many conditions. The first prerequisite is "use as a trademark". This prerequisite is often doubtful in the case of model designations. Often the use of other's trademarks is allowed, especially because of the so-called "principle of exhaustion".