The German Utility Model is closely related to the Patent. It protects technical inventions methods. The differences to the patent are mainly the lack of an official examination proceeding with regard to novelty and inventive step, the differences in the definition of the state of the art and the novelty grace period for applicant´s disclosure up to six months prior to the filing date. The duration is 10 years only. Due to the lack of examination, a utility model may be invalid although registered. Before starting court proceedings, it is therefore highly recommended to search for state of the art.

Field of use:
A trademark serves as a mean for distinguishing the goods and services of a company from those of other companies. Trademarks may come as words, letters, cyphers, slogans, devices, colours, sounds.

excluded from protection:
are all those trademarks which do not have distinctive character, that is, which are merely descriptive with regard to the captured goods and services.

Protection in the European Community and other non-German countries:
Besides single, national trademark applications, protection can be obtained by Community Trademarks in the European Community and the International Registration of a national trademark according the Madrid Agreement in selected states. The main difference in the last two trademarks can be seen in the Community Trademark being valid unitarily in all member states of the European Community whereas the International Registration being a bundle of independent national trademarks.

Duration:
The protection period of a trademark extends for a period of ten years from the application date. It can be extended in ten years increments as often as desired.

Generic Top Level Domain Protection
vkk°Patent is official agent of the Trademark Clearinghouse:

»The Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) is the most important rights protection mechanism built into ICANN’s new gTLD program. Operators of new gTLDs will be responsible for implementing certain rights protection mechanisms, supported by the Trademark Clearinghouse. The Clearinghouse allows brand owners to submit their trademark data into one centralized database, prior to and during the launch of new gTLDs.

• Trademark holders will be able to submit their trademark information to a centralized repository.
• After verification, the trademark holder has fulfilled the basic (most important) condition to be able to register its corresponding domain name during the pre-registration period of multiple TLDs – also known as the “Sunrise period”.
• Trademark holders will also have the option to be notified when someone registers a domain name that matches their record in the Clearinghouse.«

origin: Clearinghouse

Field of use:
The Design model is directed to protect aesthetic aspects. In general, the design of any product is protectable. The design model is a non-examined IP-right, whose validity has to be assessed before entering court proceedings.

conditions for protection:
A design shall be protected by a design model to the extent that it is new and has individual character. A design is new if no identical design has been made available to the public before the date of filing or the date of priority. A design has individual character if the overall impression it produces on the informed user differs from the overall impression produced on such a user by any design which has been made available to the public. Thereby, any disclosure in the last 12 months before filing made by the designer is not taken into account.

Protection in the European Community and other non-German countries:
Besides single, national Design applications, protection can be obtained by Community Designs in the European Community and the International Deposit of a national design according the Hague Agreement in selected states. The main difference between these rights can be seen in the Community Design being valid unitarily in all member states of the European Community whereas the International Deposit being a bundle of independent national designs.

Duration:
The protection period of a design extends for a period of five years from the application date. It can be extended in five years increments to a maximum period of 25 years.

In Germany, employees making an invention must immediately report the invention to their employer. Once reported, the invention can be claimed by the employer. By claiming the invention all rights associated with the invention including the right to economic exploitation are transferred to the employer. The employer is obligated to file a patent or utility model application in Germany. In return, the inventor is entitled to a reasonable compensation. The computation of the reasonable compensation due to economic exploitation of the invention by the employer is regulated in official guidelines. In case the employer releases the invention, the employee is free to make use of the invention at his disposal, for instance to apply for an intellectual property right or to exploit it economically.