Have you received a warning letter? Or are you the victim of a customs seizure or restraining order?
Warnings, preliminary injunctions, and border seizures are common measures taken by owners of registered intellectual property rights such as patents, trademarks, and designs to prevent infringements of their intellectual property rights. Such an infringement can occur, for example, if you have unlawfully used part of a registered trademark or if you offer a technical product for which a patent or utility model has already been registered in the EU or Germany at a trade fair in Germany with the aim of marketing it here.
However, even though the owners of property rights have many options at their disposal, as a potential infringer you should still exhaust all your options and work with a specialized lawyer to find a safe solution to the problem.
Have you received a warning letter? Or has a restraining order been issued against you?
Infringements of trademark and patent rights can have serious consequences for the owner of the respective property right. Naturally, the owner will attempt to prevent infringements as effectively as possible. Always take warnings and preliminary injunctions seriously! Ignoring them can be costly and further exacerbate the situation. Nevertheless, you should not react rashly, for example, by disclosing too much information at the wrong time—a rash reaction can cause you enormous damage later on.
- A warning letter is the first step in approaching the potential infringer.
- A preliminary injunction may follow if you do not respond to the warning letter in the manner intended by the rights holder—namely, by submitting a penalty-bearing cease-and-desist declaration or other declarations of commitment.
- However, the preliminary injunction is only a provisional measure that may precede, for example, an action for injunctive relief.
Always take warnings and preliminary injunctions seriously! Ignoring them can be expensive and further exacerbate the situation. However, you should not react rashly, for example by revealing too much information at the wrong time—a hasty reaction can cause you enormous harm later on.
Have customs authorities seized your products at the borders or at the fair?
- The customs authorities of the EU and Germany can seize products suspected of infringing registered patents, trademarks, or designs at the border and at trade fairs.
- The customs authorities inform the owner of the potentially infringed property right about the find.
- The owner of the property right then has ten days to respond to the find by taking legal action against you as the owner of the goods detained by customs or even requesting the destruction of the goods.
What can you do in such a case? The destruction of your goods is not inevitable—you can file an objection. However, you must do so within the ten-day period mentioned above.
You should be aware, however, that an objection to the destruction of your goods will in any case be followed by legal proceedings. You should therefore seek the assistance of a specialized attorney who can competently assess the situation and provide you with effective help. We would be happy to take on this task for you.
Better be safe than sorry
Some infringements of third-party property rights occur simply because of a lack of diligence in registering your own rights.
If you are planning to apply for a patent or register a trademark or design in the near future, we will be happy to carry out all the necessary research on existing trademarks and the state of the art in advance.
In this way, we also protect you against opposition, appeal, and nullity proceedings that may follow your property right being granted. This is the case, for example, if your invention does not sufficiently differ from already registered inventions and their patents, i.e., if it is not new, or if your trademark infringes on older, already registered trademark rights.
