Established in 1995, the firm deals with all aspects of Intellectual Property for a worldwide client base. The firm has a Munich head office and branch offices in Hamburg and Düsseldorf. Maiwald Patentanwaltsgesellschaft (Switzerland) mbH, a subsidiary company of Maiwald Patentanwalts GmbH, has been active in Switzerland since 2005. Maiwald Patentanwalts GmbH practices in association with the general law firms Dr. Schmidt-Felzmann & Kozianka (in Hamburg) and Parr, Tauche, Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (in Munich and Starnberg).
Maiwald Patentanwalts GmbH is a professional association of intellectual property attorneys with extensive experience in securing and defending the intellectual property rights of its clients. Maiwald Patentanwalts GmbH was the first German patent attorneys' office to be incorporated as a "GmbH" (limited liability company under German law) and is a continuation of the former Maiwald & Partner, founded in 1993. Since 2006, the journal Managing Intellectual Property has rated Maiwald Patentanwalts GmbH in its worldwide ranking as one of the ten leading German IP firms. In terms of size, they rank among the top five IP firms in Germany.
The firm presently has more than 180 staff members, including more than 60 attorneys, associates and trainees. In addition to the existing offices, Maiwald Patentanwalts GmbH has plans to establish offices in other European cities.
Maiwald Patentanwalts GmbH advises and represents major domestic and international clients, covering all technical fields and all aspects of national and international law relating to intellectual property including utility models, trademarks and design, design and copyright law, intellectual property-related copyright, unfair competition, computer and software law, internet law, business and commercial law, licensing and litigation.
A major thrust of their work relates to patent prosecution and opposition, especially before the European Patent Office (EPO). They have successfully represented clients up to and including the EPO's Enlarged Board of Appeal.
Another focus of the firm is the representation of clients in national and international patent litigation procedures and in organizing such procedures. Their expertise is global. They have won cases for clients in the German Federal Supreme Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union, they have also successfully organized defenses of clients' IP interests abroad. Moreover, national and international arbitration and licensing cases are well within their core purview.
Through a specialized team of attorneys-at-law, Maiwald Patentanwalts GmbH offers comprehensive legal service to clients. Furthermore, when it is in the best interest of the client, Maiwald Patentanwalts GmbH engages selected general law firms to augment their litigation.
The Düsseldorf branch was established in 2001. Its particular field of expertise is in the technical area of mechanical engineering. It mainly advises national clients in patent matters with a team of specially qualified patent attorneys, most of whom have a technical engineering background.
For contractual legalities that are directly related to patent registration activities the Düsseldorf office calls on the expertise of outside counsel with the appropriate qualifications and experience.