Office
History
Our Office has its origin in the Stein Patent Law Office, founded in Saarbrücken in 1910, and therefore has a history dating back more than 100 years. Please click the section History if you wish to find out more about the course of development of our office as mirrored in the history of the Saar (in German language).
Geographical situation
Our law firm is headquartered in Saarbrucken, a central location within the SAAR-LOR-LUX (Saar/Lorraine/Luxembourg) Euroregion. Saarbrucken is less than two hours by train from Paris or Frankfurt and can easily be reached by car from nearby cities in the region (60 km from Metz, 80 km from Luxembourg, 120 km from Nancy and Strasbourg).
The vicinity of our office to France (approx. 2 km as the crow flies) and Christof Vièl’s dual qualification, as a registered French patent attorney and licensed German patent attorney, have led to our office becoming a bridge between German and French intellectual property protection. The fact that our team has a command of various languages (German, French, English and Spanish) facilitates contacts both with our clients and with official bodies and colleagues all over the world.
Our technical expertise
Our complementary technical education enables us to offer competent consulting in many technical and scientific areas: mechanical engineering, process engineering, electrical engineering and electronics, informatics, chemistry, biotechnology, materials science and physics.
Our services
Preparation and filing of applications for industrial property rights
Our services comprise consulting and legal representation even ahead of potential applications for protective rights and continuing all the way through to the granting/registration of such rights. This includes:
- search services
- completion and filing of application documentation
- legal representation in grant procedures
After filing of the application
After the granting/registration of protective rights, our services include management of protective rights portfolios, which involves monitoring renewal-fee deadlines and investigation of conflicting competitor activities.
Validity check – Infringement check
Our services also include procedures to check the validity of granted/registered intellectual property rights (objection/nullity/cancellation procedures).
Further consulting services available from our legal team run from the handling of proceedings connected with protective rights infringements through to product piracy issues.
Out-of-court and in-court representation are yet another component of our services. The former includes the drawing up of contracts and provision of supporting and consulting activities during contract negotiations and the preparation of legal opinions ahead of litigation (e.g., what is known as “freedom to operate assessments”).