Patents and utility models

Lorenz Seidler Gossel offers comprehensive advice in all matters relating to patents and utility models and represents clients before German courts. Our attorneys-at-law and patent attorneys accompany companies and developers from the first application for the patent or utility model to the drafting of corresponding license agreements and up to the enforcing of rights against third parties. We develop individual application and court strategies tailored to your specific industry for this purpose.

We offer special knowledge of the following industrial and scientific fields: Mechanical engineering, automotive technology, medical engineering, physics, electrical engineering, electronics, general mechanics, chemistry, telecommunications, computer-implemented inventions, material sciences.

Our consultation services in patent and utility model law cover the following areas:

• Patent applications: We have worked for many years in a wide range of fields in application practice before both the German patent office and the European patent office; we have a correspondingly large amount of experience in drafting patent applications and in all aspects of the examination procedure. Using our global network of specialized colleagues, we also file and prosecute patent and utility model applications outside Germany for our clients. In this regard, we have a great deal of experience in managing extensive international patent families and offer corresponding in-depth knowledge not only in the classical patent countries such as the USA, Japan, China and Korea, but also in countries less know for patents such as Brazil, India, the CIS states or the Gulf region.  
• Opposition and nullity proceedings: Another traditional focus of our work is the representation of our clients in opposition and nullity proceedings before the EPO, the German Patent and Trademark Office, the Federal Patent Court and the Federal Court of Justice. We combine substantiated technical arguments with in-depth knowledge and many years of experience in the increasingly important procedural aspects and pitfalls of legal proceedings to prepare for our work in opposition and nullity proceedings. 
• Infringement suits: Our attorneys-at-law and our patent attorneys all have extensive experience in infringement procedures in which we either enforce the IP rights of our clients against infringing parties or defend our clients against unauthorized use of such rights. Our attorneys-at-law have also been consulted for many years by external patent attorneys in infringement suits. Two of our attorneys-at-law also have degrees in technical subjects and so provide correspondingly extensive technical know-how, too. Our own clients enjoy the services of a team of attorney-at-law and patent attorney who can therefore offer joint expertise without any losses in transmission and without any red tape. 
• Expert opinions on the protective capability and the infringement situation: We give our clients expert advice on the protectability of their inventions and any risk of infringing third-party rights. We use experienced research staff to prepare expert opinions and freedom-to-operate analyses.
• R&D contracts, license agreements: We work together with our clients to develop tailored contractual solutions for cooperation with other companies in the development or marketing of their products and for the exploitation of their patent portfolio.
• Employee invention law: We advise companies with respect to the setting up and implementing of administrative and incentive structures for dealing with employee inventions and act for employers and employees in disputes about the compensation for employee inventions.