Most companies do an excellent job of protecting their tangible assets.  Locks and alarm systems protect a company’s facilities, and bankers, accountants and financial planners protect a company’s monetary assets.  However, many companies do not adequately protect their intellectual assets.  The most common reason why intellectual assets are left unprotected is because people do not recognize that certain knowledge, documents, devices or methods that they encounter in their daily routine are valuable and worthy of protection.  The field of intellectual property law, also called industrial property law, deals with protecting intellectual assets.  There are four main types of intellectual property protection:  trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks and patents.

For more, please click here for the full article from Ross Europa GmbH, a member of AmCham Germany's SMB Committee.

DIHK

 Link to information on intellectual property law

DPMA

Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt

Main site: http://www.dpma.de/index.htm

DPMA Information Brochures

• Patents / Patente

German: http://www.dpma.de/infos/broschuere/patente.pdf

English: http://www.dpma.de/infos/broschuere/patente_e.pdf

• Trade Marks / Marken

German: http://www.dpma.de/infos/broschuere/marken.pdf

English: http://www.dpma.de/infos/broschuere/marke_e.pdf

• "Gebrauchsmuster"

German: http://www.dpma.de/infos/broschuere/gbm.pdf

• Courier, Delivery, and Monitoring Service

German: http://www.dpma.de/service/kurier.html

epoline®

Electronic communication and transaction during the patent granting procedure. The name given to the range of online products and services designed by the European Patent Office (EPO) to allow patent applicants, attorneys and other users to conduct their business with the EPO electronically in a state-of-the-art secure environment.

http://my.epoline.org/portal/public/!ut/p/.cmd/SelectLanguage?chosenLanguage=de

European Patent Office (EPO)

• Protecting Innovation

http://www.european-patent-office.org/_new_gen_pres/index.en.php

• Intellectual Property

http://www.european-patent-office.org/onlinelinks/

• How to become a European patent attorney

http://www.european-patent-office.org/epo/pubs/pat_attorney/e/index.htm

Europe' Network of Patent Databases

(Search 50 million patent documents online)

http://www.espacenet.com/

PATLIB Network

In the intellectual property system, applicants are granted patents which give them the exclusive right to manufacture, use and exploit their invention for a limited period of time, usually 20 years, in the geographical area where the patent is valid. In return, they must fully disclose and publish their invention so that everyone can benefit from the information they contain. This system of give and take boosts knowledge transfer, which in turn stimulates development and the expansion of technical know-how.

http://patlib.european-patent-office.org/