The Legal 500

Legal Developments in Germany

• Recent Changes to the European Patent Convention

  The administrative council of the European Patent Organisation enacted important changes to the European Patent Convention in March this year. These changes serve the pursuit of the so-called ‘raising the bar’ project of the European Patent Office. This project seeks to improve both the quality and legal certainty during the granting of a European patent. However, it cannot be overlooked that significant numbers of changes are disadvantageous for the applicant. In the future we will endeavour to provide you with recommendations in regards to how you can minimize potentially disadvantageous outcomes.
  - Hertin Anwaltssozietät

• 'Phoenix' and 'Cuckoo' Businesses: Liability Risks Related to Business Transfers

  A recent Federal Court of Justice ruling highlights the risks of taking over and carrying on an existing business using a business name which is identical or similar to that used previously. Any party partaking in an asset deal involving the transfer of German business operations must be aware of several pitfalls in order to avoid liability.
  - GSK Gassner Stockmann & Kollegen

• What are the procedural means to invalidate a patent in Germany and in the United States?

   
  - Reimann Osterrieth Köhler Haft Rechtsanwälte

• EPO Publication - Patents for Software?

  Brochure of the EPO about European law and the practice of the EPO with respect to computer-implemented inventions.
  - Reimann Osterrieth Köhler Haft Rechtsanwälte

• Restructuring strategies for the automotive sector

  The automotive sector has been struggling for many years, but it has never faced a catalogue of challenges quite like this. Rising oil and commodity prices, the declining value of the US dollar, tighter lending habits, rising competition and environmental concerns have all conspired to make it more difficult than ever for auto companies to operate profitably.
  - Hermann Rechtsanwälte Wirtschaftsprüfer Steuerbe

• Finance for small and medium enterprises in times of fi nancial crisis

  Since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, the global fi nancial crisis has intensifi ed dramatically and grown to become a world-wide economic crisis. The conventional fi nance and banking system has imploded and is experiencing a “melt-down”, and it is uncertain how it is going to end.
  - SIBETH

• New possibilities for IP owners in Germany

  Enforcement Directive 2004/48/EC implemented in German Law. As of September 1, 2008, the enforcement directive 2004/48/EC was implemented in German Law. The underlying idea of the directive is to ensure that the substantive law on intellectual property is applied effectively in the European Community. In this respect, the means of enforcing intellectual property have been amended. Implementation in German law therefore has a great impact on most of the laws concerning intellectual property, inter alia on patent law, design law, trademark law and copyright law. The latest amendments improve the position of the owners of intellectual property significantly.
  - Wildanger Kehrwald Graf v.Schwerin & Partner

• Obligation to inform the target’s works council prior to take-overs

  On August 19th, 2008 the Risk Limitation Act (RLA) took effect, which substantially increased the obligations to sufficiently inform the employees of a company to be acquired ("Target") about the acquisition by a prospective buyer ("Buyer"). The official goal of the RLA is to impede takeovers by financial investors such as hedge funds and private equity funds.
  - Avocado Rechtsanwälte

• (P) notices under (reformed) German Copyright Law

  Again, shortly after the last major reform of the German Copyright Act in 2003, several aspects of the law have been adopted to European legisla-tion, especially EU Directive 2004/48/EC on the Enforcement of Intellec-tual Property Rights ("Enforcement Directive"). The new law became ef-fective Sept. 1, 2008.
  - Hertin Anwaltssozietät

• COMPLIANCE – A CENTRAL THEME OF MODERN GERMAN CORPORATE LAW?

  As a legal term, ‘compliance’ is hard to grasp. The German translation would simply mean the adherence to legal provisions. Compliance, as a “legal transplant” of Anglo-American commercial law, goes back to the US “Federal Sentencing Guidelines” that were introduced in the early 90s of the last century in order to stem corporate crime.
  - Heussen Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH