The Act on Inventions made by Employees from 1957 regulates the right to exploit and the remuneration for inventions that are made by employed inventors. It is thus closely linked to both employment law and intellectual property law.

Appellate court to decisions by the German Patent and Trademark Office, Federal Office for Plant Varieties, court for declaration of nullity.

The generic term ‘cancellation’ generally refers to both trade mark revocation and trade mark invalidity proceedings. A trade mark may be revoked because it has not been put to genuine use during a period of five consecutive years. A trade mark may be declared invalid because of earlier rights that permit the use of the trade mark in question to be prohibited.

If an application has been filed unlawfully and without transfer of rights from the inventor to the applicant, the inventor may claim for return of the application and thus decide on its maintenance or lapse.

Categorization of products as to their design in accordance with the international agreement of Locarno.

Goods and services are categorized as to their intended use as a trademark in accordance with international agreements, Nice agreement.

Collective marks may be used by the members of an independent association of enterprises. In an application for registering a collective mark, regulations must be included that govern the use of the trade mark by the members of the association.

A sign that is applied for as a trademark is regarded as being distinct if in principle it can help to distinguish goods and services from other goods and services in the market.

Any IP right is an exclusive right that entitles the proprietor to prohibit use and fabrication of the protected goods or offering services under the protected trade name.

European Patent Convention, established in 1973 by a community of European states. The member states to the EPC are listed on http://www.epo.org/about-us/organisation/member-states_de.html.

The European Intellectual Property Office (formerly OHIM, Office for the Harmonisation of the Internal Market) is the European Union agency responsible for registering Community trade marks and Community design models that are valid in all countries of the EU; the EUIPO is seated in Alicante, Spain.

A trade mark does not entitle the proprietor to prohibit its use in relation to goods which have been put on the market by the proprietor himself or with his consent.

The extent of protection of an IP right is defined and determined by the claims of a patent or the whole impression of a trade mark.

Date of filing an application for registration of an intellectual property right with one of the national or international IP Offices. This date is fundamental for, e.g., the determination of the IP life time and renewal fees and also for determining the term for claiming the priority.

If infringement is tolerated knowingly for a longer period of time no damage can be claimed thereafter.

This system gives the owner of an industrial design the possibility to have a design protected in several countries by filing one application only.

infringement of IP rights may be prosecuted before national courts. IP rights grant the proprietor the exclusive right to exploit the patented invention or registered trade mark and to prohibit the use thereof by any third party. Any contravention against this exclusive right may be regarded as an act of infringement. The IP right proprietor may file for injunction, compensation, disclosure, and destroying of infringing material.

Seat of the World Intellectual Property Organisation WIPO in Geneva, Switzerland. Central authority for international agreements on intellectual property such as PCT (patents), MMA (trade marks), PMMA (trade marks).

In a licence contract a licensor authorizes use of a patented or otherwise protected invention or innovation to a licensee.