Patent Attorney Dipl.-Ing. Ralf Bucher

Intellectual property rights are national or regional exclusive rights for the protection of inventions, products, methods, services, designs and marks. Intellectual property rights grant the exclusive right to their proprietor to manufacture, advertise, sell, use, export, import or otherwise commercialize the protected goods and services.

The most important Intellectual Property Rights are patents, trade marks, utility models and design patents.

Technical Inventions can be protected by patents and utility models, for instance an electronic circuit, a chemical compound, a drug, a method of manufacture, or a device for controlling machines.

Signs for goods and services can be protected by trade marks, for instance a catchy name for a product or product line such as pharmaceuticals, services, machines, or office products.

The design of a product can be protected by design patents, for instance the esthetic design of a machine, a medical product, bottles, cutlery, furniture, or headphones.

In order to obtain an Intellectual Property Right an official procedure has to be successfully completed. For obtaining a German patent, trade mark, utility model or design patent an application has to be filed with the German Patent and Trademark Office. After fulfilling formal and material requirements, the Intellectual Property Rights will be granted or registered.

Patent Attorney Dipl.-Ing. Ralf Bucher