Terms of engagement
1. Subject of the Mandate
The patent attorney’s non-binding offer is addressed to clients acting in the course of their trade, business or profession and, except for advice on employee invention law, not to consumers. Unless the client states that they are acting as a consumer, the patent attorney assumes that they are acting in a business or professional capacity. For the filing services offered to international IP firms on this website, the client is the instructing firm; the trademark applicant is that firm’s client.
The content of the mandate consists of providing the agreed services and not in guaranteeing a specific legal or economic outcome. The mandate is carried out in accordance with the principles of proper professional conduct with continuous training and taking into account current legal developments.
The mandate is concluded between the client and the patent attorney upon acceptance of the client’s order by the patent attorney. The patent attorney is entitled to involve employees or third parties to fulfill the mandate.
2. Remuneration
For services covered by an agreed fixed professional fee, that fixed fee takes precedence over hourly billing. The listed fixed fees for filing, handling deadline-bearing official communications, translating a goods and services specification and dispatching an original certificate carry no additional document fee. Unless otherwise agreed, additional legal work, such as consultations, preparing and sending reports or opinions, procedural actions and preparing file or meeting notes, is charged at EUR 310 per hour. Billing is in six-minute increments; each started increment is charged in full.
Outside these fixed-fee services, the patent attorney may charge a document fee based on the amount invoiced, with a minimum of EUR 10, in addition to actual expenses such as travel, accommodation, fees advanced and external services.
For appointments not canceled in time, a cancellation fee based on the time spent may be charged, with typically 12 minutes scheduled for preparation and 12 minutes for keeping the appointment available. An appointment is considered canceled in time if the cancellation is made before preparation for the appointment begins.
All quoted professional fees and expenses are net amounts; statutory VAT is added where applicable. Official fees collected and disbursed in the name and for the account of the client are generally treated as disbursements outside the taxable amount and shown separately on the invoice. Where the requirements for this treatment are not met, the invoice reflects the applicable tax treatment. The professional fee is due immediately upon receipt of the invoice, without deduction. Payment is by bank transfer to the account specified in the invoice, quoting the invoice number.
The patent attorney is entitled to charge partial fees or request advances in an amount considering the expected total fee and expenses (particularly official fees and external services). If the partial fee or advance is not paid, the patent attorney may refuse the mandate or terminate the mandate relationship.
3. Obligations of the Client
The client is obligated to provide the patent attorney with comprehensive and detailed information regarding the mandate. The client is also required to carefully read all documents sent by the patent attorney and to respond to the patent attorney's questions, comments, and remarks, preferably by email.
The client is obligated to regularly check the email addresses provided to or used by the patent attorney for new messages and to notify the patent attorney immediately of any changes in contact details.
4. Confidentiality and Communication
The patent attorney is subject to a professional duty of confidentiality. All employees are also contractually bound to maintain confidentiality.
It is agreed that communication between the client and the patent attorney will take place via email. Invoices, notifications, and reminders of deadlines or due dates for safeguarding the client's rights will be sent by email unless otherwise agreed.
The patent attorney takes all common precautions to ensure the confidentiality and security of data transmitted during remote communication. The patent attorney offers the option to send encrypted emails. Remote communication, i.e., communication via email, telephone, fax, or the internet, is solely at the client's risk.
5. Limitation of Liability
The client’s claim for damages resulting from the contractual relationship with the patent attorney is limited to EUR 1,000,000 for cases of simple negligence.
Oral information provided during a free initial consultation and telephone advice is generally non-binding unless confirmed in writing.
6. Jurisdiction, Place of Performance, and Applicable Law
For all legal disputes arising from or in connection with this contract, the exclusive place of jurisdiction, as far as legally permissible, is 42655 Solingen, Germany.
Unless otherwise agreed in writing, the place of performance for all services arising from business relationships with the patent attorney is 42655 Solingen, Germany.
The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG).
7. File Management
The patent attorney is required to maintain a matter file for each mandate. After telephone conversations or meetings with the client or third parties, the patent attorney will prepare at least a file note. The time spent preparing a file note or detailed meeting note will be billed based on time spent.
8. Searches
For searches related to technical intellectual property rights, i.e., patents and utility models, as well as trademarks and designs, specialized databases are used. These databases may have gaps or delays in updates. It is possible that the databases do not cover all rights filed or granted in a specific country or technical area. Unpublished applications may not be searchable. Publication timing depends on the type of right and the jurisdiction.
Similarly, trademarks and designs may experience delays between filing and publication in the respective registers or databases used.
It is expressly pointed out that even a thorough search cannot eliminate the risk of a conflict with earlier rights, but only reduce it.
Searches are conducted with the utmost care; however, no guarantee can be made for the accuracy and completeness of search results.
9. Severability Clause
Should any provision of these General Terms and Conditions be wholly or partially invalid or unenforceable, the validity or enforceability of the remaining provisions shall not be affected. The invalid or unenforceable provision shall be replaced by a provision that comes as close as possible to the economic purpose of the invalid or unenforceable provision in a legally permissible manner. The same applies to any gaps in the provisions.