German Trademark Attorney, Trademark Lawyer

German Trademark Attorney, Trademark Lawyer

Are you looking for a German attorney for trademark law?

The specialist attorney for intellectual property law as a "specialist attorney for trademark law".

German Attorney-at-law ("Rechtsanwalt") Thomas Seifried has been a specialist attorney for, among other things, trademark law ("Fachanwalt für gewerblichen Rechtsschutz") since 2007 and has experience from several hundred court proceedings with many verifiable successes. He has represented trademark manufacturers and licensees of well-known trademarks in trademark law for many years. Thomas Seifried advises and represents clients out of court in warning letters and in court infringement proceedings (e.g. preliminary injunction proceedings) for infringement of trademarks and in trademark proceedings before the Offices and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CFI).

Advice and representation in European and German trademark law

Representation in and out of court

Thomas Seifried represents and advises well-known companies in trademark law and other trademark law in legal infringement proceedings as well as in application, opposition and appeal proceedings before the offices and the Court of the European Union.

Clients and Industries

His clients include wholesalers and retailers, online retailers in almost all sectors, companies from the marketing and advertising, IT, German subsidiaries of international groups and some of the best-known German companies and associations in the textile and fashion industry.

Do you have any questions about trademark law?

Call us free of charge for an initial assessment

Call us without obligation or send us a message by email or via our contact form. Our initial telephone assessment is free of charge.

Call us for a free initial assesment of your case

SEIFRIED IP
Eschersheimer Landstr. 60 - 62
60322 Frankfurt am Main (Westend)

+49 69 91 50 76 0

info@seifried.pro

Practitioner's guide to advertising law zum Werberecht by Thomas Seifried (in German)

„Rechtsicher werben", 180 Seiten, XchangeIP Verlag, in bookstores or at Amazon

Praktikerhandbuch für die Modeindustrie von Thomas Seifried und Dr. Markus Borbach

„Schutzrechte und Rechtsschutz in der Mode- und Textilindustrie", 368 Seiten, erschienen 2014 in der dfv-Mediengruppe

Free ebook on cease-and-desist letters 2021 (in German) as ePUB or PDF

Everything about warning letters and cease-and-desist declarations with penalties

Specialist Lawyer for Intellectual Property (Fachanwalt fuer gewerblichen Rechtsschutz)

Since the beginning of 2007, Thomas Seifried has also been a specialist lawyer for intellectual property law (Fachanwalt fuer gewerblichen Rechtsschutz, the "Specialist lawyer for competition law, trademark law, design law, antitrust law and patent law") and has experience from several hundred court proceedings with demonstrable successes.

"Specialist lawyer for trademark law"

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.

In the media as trademark attorney

Attorney Thomas Seifried is the contact person for well-known media in questions of trademark law, competition law and Internet law.

Types of trademarks

sind beispielsweise

  • German registered trademark
  • German use trademark
  • Community Trademark (the "European trademark")
  • IR trademark, internationally registered trademark

Trademark registration and protection

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".

Verifiable successes

Thomas Seifried has experience from several hundred court cases before regional courts and higher regional courts throughout Germany with demonstrable success.