Fink Numrich advises European medium-sized companies, prepares patent and utility model applications, and represents them before the German Patent and Trademark Office (GPTO), the European Patent Office (EPO), the German Federal Patent Court (BPatG), and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

For European clients, Fink Numrich provides comprehensive advice as well as end-to-end management of protective rights applications outside of Europe, i.e., in the USA or Asia. This takes place in cooperation with locally licensed firms in the grown partner network of Fink Numrich. In this regard, Fink Numrich handles the entire process together with partner firms.

Fink Numrich also provides these services for clients of foreign partner firms based, for example, in the USA or Asia, and represents them in Germany and Europe. 

In addition, Fink Numrich directly supports non-European companies and their patent departments in obtaining protective rights in Germany and Europe. For this purpose, Fink Numrich prepares adapted applications for the GPTO and the EPO based on existing IP applications from the country of origin, including the required translations, and represents the client before the chosen patent offices.

Fink Numrich advises and assists European SMEs with respect to trademarks and designs before the German Patent and Trademark Office (GPTO), the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), or the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). If necessary, Fink Numrich represents these SMEs before these offices – and also before national offices outside Germany and Europe in cooperation with partner firms based in those countries in which protection is sought.

Moreover, Fink Numrich advises clients on cases in which the registration of trademarks and designs is an adequate supplement to technical protective rights or perhaps more suitable.

Fink Numrich defends technical protective rights on behalf of clients in opposition or nullity proceedings and, if necessary, will challenge the technical protective rights of third parties.

This also applies to opposition and cancellation proceedings for trademarks and designs (challenging or defending).

In order to reliably determine whether a technical invention is patentable, Fink Numrich conducts state-of-the-art searches, evaluates the results in detail, and makes a clear recommendation based on the results.

To enable clients to challenge existing protective rights of competitors, Fink Numrich conducts appropriate opposition, nullity or cancellation searches and prepares a transparent report of the results that can be used as a basis for attacking any interfering protective rights.

Freedom-to-operate (FTO) searches are used to promptly identify interfering third-party protective rights that could potentially hinder or even preclude new technological developments. These findings are regarded as an important building block in the decision-making process about the continuation of an R&D project. This protects clients from the consequences of unwise investments.

Analogously, searches can also be carried out for trademarks and designs in order to avoid conflicts of a planned trademark or design application with existing third-party protective rights.

The infringement of protective rights can have significant financial consequences for a company in two different ways.

If a company’s protective rights are infringed by third parties, the product and thus the competitive advantage that has been gained through great developmental and financial expense are undermined. An infringement that is not legally challenged and averted can have serious consequences for a company.

Fink Numrich supports clients by analyzing potential infringements of protective rights. This information is documented in an infringement opinion and legally pursued by specialized attorneys in the Fink Numrich network.

The same applies conversely. In order to avoid claims that could arise from the infringement of third-party protective rights, Fink Numrich analyzes potential infringements of protective rights and advises clients on possible workarounds.

In order to prosecute patent applications filed with foreign patent offices, Fink Numrich works in cooperation with local partner firms to provide translations of the applications into the corresponding national language.

Fink Numrich can also provide necessary translations for technical protective rights from abroad that shall be filed with the German Patent and Trademark Office (GPTO) or the European Patent Office (EPO).

Countless patent applications as well as trademarks and designs are filed around the world every day.

Continuously monitoring these protective rights is an important measure in order to take immediate action as soon as an infringement is discovered. Nevertheless,it is often neglected.

If desired, Fink Numrich can monitor protective rights in Germany, Europe, and worldwide. Monitoring is becoming increasingly relevant, especially since China has been registering the highest number of patents per year since 2020.

Licensing agreements, like most contracts, bear the risk that important provisions may not have been included or clearly formulated. This can result in costly oversights – irrespective of whether the licensing agreement covers the company’s own protective rights or those of third parties.

Fink Numrich advises clients on these issues and works in cooperation with specialized attorneys to prepare suitable licensing agreements.

Inventions rarely come alone. Patent-active companies often hold a large number of patents from similar technical fields that, in many cases, complement each other. In order to comprehensively protect technical developments, possible gaps should be analyzed and defined at an early stage. If necessary, they should be closed by suitable patent applications and accompanying protective rights both at home and abroad.

Fink Numrich manages the entire process of establishing appropriate intellectual property portfolios for clients. This includes the analysis of existing applications and patents in Germany and abroad. Fink Numrich also prepares draft decisions for subsequent or supplementary applications for protective rights – above all, taking into account existing protective rights of third parties.

Fink Numrich can also handle the continuous monitoring and maintenance of an intellectual property portfolio.