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ip & unfair competition
Schoenherr's intellectual property and unfair competition experts provide full ip coverage throughout the CEE region.
"An outstanding firm offering all-inclusive IP advice."
A holistic and business-oriented approach to brands, designs, inventions, creations, know-how and the related areas of advertising, media, sports and entertainment is key to finding efficient and sustainable solutions for clients. This is the approach of the intellectual property (ip) team of Schoenherr, a highly specialised and internationally regarded group of lawyers – all of them truly dedicated to ip and all of them recognised experts within the ip community.
The group offers full ip coverage via the Schoenherr international offices throughout the CEE region. Closely linked with specialists of other Schoenherr teams (such as regulatory, competition, life sciences, civil law and new technologies) the ip team offers clients quick, tailor-made solutions for their demands in the increasingly complex environment of protecting, marketing, defending and managing intellectual property.
protecting your ideas
Based on the experience of more than six decades of protecting ip rights around the globe, the Schoenherr ip team supports and guides clients all the way from the protection of the first idea (be it a new brand, a technical solution, a software, a design, a creative performance or a business method) to a set of registered and unregistered ip rights ensuring the best protection for the clients' business. This may include a tailor-made protection strategy, secrecy measures, clearance searches for conflicting rights and national, EU-wide or international registrations of trademarks and designs.
marketing your product
The Schoenherr ip team is committed to understanding the client's business, products and marketing strategies. With this understanding, they advise clients in all legal aspects of communication and marketing (in particular labelling, product appearance, marketing campaigns and competition strategies). They also provide support in relation to:
enforcing your rights
When infringements come up or the validity of ip rights is challenged, the Schoenherr ip team enforces its clients' rights efficiently out of court and if necessary in administrative, civil and criminal proceedings in court, including European instances and – via a comprehensive network of specialised law firms – also in jurisdictions outside Schoenherr's coverage. Moreover, the ip team regularly conducts domain name proceedings nationally or via UDRP.
managing your assets
Simply registering ip rights is not enough. A powerful ip portfolio needs diligent care (updating the lists of services and goods and the territorial scope of protection as a company develops its business, internal ip manuals and courses to safely use IPRs avoiding, e.g. dilution of the brand, and providing ip due diligence, licensing in/out, 24/7 online access to our updated database of the client's IPRs, etc.). The ip team is happy to take care of your ip portfolio and to provide "IP Lifecycle Management".
our services
- advertising
- anti-piracy
- art
- border detention
- brand development
- copyright
- designs
- domain names
- ip litigation
- ip transactional work
- know-how protection
- licensing
- new media
- patents
- prosecution (trademarks and designs)
- research and development agreements
- software
- trademarks
- trade secrets
- unfair commercial practices
news
newsletter
Application of EU consumer protection law to sports agency contracts with minors
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) recently delivered a significant judgment in Case C-365/23 - Arce[1], addressing the application of EU consumer protection law to contracts involving minors in the sports sector.
blog
Sport & Trademarks – Trademark protection for athletes and stars: which trademarks can be protected and how can they be monetised?
In today's sports and media landscape, top athletes are not just competitors – they are global brands. Names, logos, gestures and even signatures can be legally protected and commercially exploited. For many stars, brand value has become just as important – if not more important economically – than athletic performance. But how does trademark protection apply to public figures, and what opportunities are there for monetisation?
blog
The new EU design legislation: key updates and changes
The European Union has recently enacted a significant overhaul of its design protection legal framework, aimed at modernising and aligning it with the digital age by addressing new challenges posed by technological advances and market globalisation. The new EU Design Legislative Reform Package, published in the Official Journal on 18 November 2024, introduces substantial changes that will impact design holders and practitioners across the EU.
recognitions
awards and excellent rankings
Our Austrian IP team has been recognised for their exceptional work over the past year, winning the "Austria Trademark Litigation Firm of the Year" award at the Global IP Awards by WTR and IAM.
This achievement is further underscored by the team's consistently excellent IP rankings in Chambers and Partners, Legal 500, JUVE Verlag and Managing IP.
trademark & design management
Schoenherr has more than 60 years of experience in the administration and enforcement of trademarks and designs, supporting clients in trademark administration and management, design litigation and more.
know-how
authored books
An essential part of our work - besides legal advice of course - is also writing academic works. We consider fundamental topics such as trademark law, and regularly update our publications when relevant innovations arise. In addition, we also analyse newly emerging trademark-related topics which often come about in times of digitalisation.
team
our ip team
Meet the team of international ip experts, specified in intellectual property and unfair competition matters.