The Hague Agreement concerning the International Filing of Industrial Designs (also known as the Hague system) is a simple and inexpensive way to obtain design protection for many countries with one central application. Unlike IR trademarks, this does not require an initial filing in the home country, and international design protection for the EU and…
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In its decision BPatG 30 W (pat) 809/18 of February 27, 2020, the German Federal Patent Court (BPatG) ruled on the question of the visibility of a design in the form of the underside of a bicycle saddle and its intended use and deleted the design reproduced below. These were so-called components of complex products,…
Further readingOn April 26, 2019, the German Act on the Protection of Trade Secrets (GeschGehG) came into force. The law is based on the EU know-how Directive 2016/943 of 08.06.2016. The law strengthens the protection of trade secrets. A very important innovation, however, is that “appropriate secrecy measures” must be taken to ensure that know-how actually…
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The United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU (Brexit) took place on 31 January 2020, which in part has implications on property rights. Patents With regard to European patents, nothing changes, since the United Kingdom remains a member of the European Patent Convention, which is not Union law but an international treaty to which, for example,…
Further readingWith the WIPANO funding measure, the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi) offers small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) support in the patenting and exploitation of their innovative ideas by reimbursing the costs of patent consultation and registration in the form of a subsequent grant of 50% of the costs incurred. The grant is divided…
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