Relevance of enforcing property rights in the event of infringements
Despite all knowledge of competitors’ products and property rights, as well as careful research and analysis of one’s own freedom of action in advance, infringements of property rights do occur or are even knowingly accepted or deliberately committed.
Scope of protection as the basis for enforcing property rights
In this case, the true value of an IP right and in particular the extent of its so-called scope of protection, which in the case of patents and utility models is established by the claims, in the case of trademarks by the link between the sign and the list of goods or services and in the case of designs by those features of the appearance of a design which are visibly reproduced in the application, only becomes apparent.
Role of the patent attorney in the enforcement of intellectual property rights
The scope of protection is not defined absolutely in each case, but rather it must be examined on a case-by-case basis whether the allegedly infringing object falls within the scope of protection of the claims or the like.
This is where the technical and intellectual property expertise of a patent attorney comes into play in infringement proceedings, which are part of ordinary jurisdiction and therefore reserved for a lawyer, who can be consulted to assess the infringement of intellectual property rights. The scope of protection is determined in relation to the alleged infringing object and this result is used in the proceedings.