Intellectual Property: Enforcement and Defence

Trademarks, patents, designs, trade secrets and protection against unfair competition are often a company’s most valuable assets. We build up your rights, license them – and enforce them: actively against infringers, and defensively when you receive a warning letter in Germany.

The rights at a glance

Trademarks: word, figurative and shape marks, company names and titles – German, EU or international registrations via WIPO.
Patents and utility models: technical inventions before the German Patent and Trade Mark Office, the EPO and the Unified Patent Court (UPC).
Designs: registered and unregistered designs; since the 2025 EU design reform expressly including digital designs and user interfaces.
Trade secrets: know-how, formulas, source code and customer data under the German Trade Secrets Act (GeschGehG) – protected only where reasonable confidentiality measures are in place.
Unfair competition (UWG): misleading advertising, slavish imitation, disparagement of competitors and breaches of market conduct rules.
Copyright: software, texts, photos, music and works of applied art.

Your rights are being infringed? How we proceed

With counterfeits, copied products or misappropriated know-how, every day counts. We assess your position and choose the most effective remedy:

Securing evidence: test purchases, time-stamped screenshots, inspection claims (e.g. Section 140c German Patent Act) and disclosure of supply chains.
Warning letter (Abmahnung): with a prepared cease-and-desist declaration and a realistic deadline.
Preliminary injunction: relief within days – urgency is required; many German courts expect an application within about one month of becoming aware of the infringement.
Main action: injunction, information, damages (including licence analogy or infringer’s profits), recall and destruction.
Customs seizure: border measures to stop counterfeits before they enter the market.
Online platforms: notice-and-takedown on Amazon, eBay and other marketplaces; domain disputes.

You have received a warning letter? First steps

German warning letters for trademark, patent, design, copyright or unfair competition infringements usually set short deadlines. With the right response, obligations and costs can often be limited considerably:

Note the deadline – but do not sign or pay prematurely. A cease-and-desist declaration is usually binding for life and backed by contractual penalties.
Review the claim: Is the right valid? Is there an infringement at all? Is the warning abusive (Section 8c UWG) or the cost claim excessive?
Modified declaration: drafted as narrowly as possible and without admission of liability.
Protective letter (Schutzschrift): filed with the central German register so that no court grants an injunction without hearing your arguments.
Counter-attack: cancellation or invalidity action against the claimant’s trademark, design or patent; action for a negative declaratory judgment.
Unjustified warnings: a party that issues an unjustified IP warning may be liable for your damages.

Send us the letter right away via our contact form – we usually respond within 24 hours.

Why horak Rechtsanwälte

Attorneys at law and patent attorneys under one roof.
Certified specialists in IP law (Fachanwalt für gewerblichen Rechtsschutz) and in copyright and media law.
Representation before the DPMA, EUIPO, EPO, WIPO, the specialised German regional courts, the Federal Patent Court and the Unified Patent Court.
Ten offices across Germany and cooperation offices in Vienna, Zurich, London, Taiwan and Paris.

More details: Gewerblicher Rechtsschutz (in German)

Would you like to discuss your matter?

Tell us briefly about your case – we usually respond within 24 hours. Meetings in person at our offices, by phone or by video conference, in German or English.

+49 511 357 356 0