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.
Munich is the oldest and, at the same time, largest location of Maiwald Patentanwalts GmbH. Approximately 140 employees are located there, over 50 of whom are attorneys, trainees and associates. The Munich office is conveniently located close to the German Patent and Trademark Office as well as the European Patent Office. The Munich attorneys advise national and international clients in all aspects of intellectual property rights, as well as patent and utility models, employee invention rights, trademarks, design registration, design and copyright law, licenses, infringement issues, arbitration, media, computer software, internet company and business law. Besides dealing with registration procedures of national and international patent applications, the care and control of international patent portfolios is a further area of their expertise. They also compile evaluations of legal proceedings and infringement cases. Furthermore, the Munich attorneys have extensive experience in the handling and coordination of national and international patent infringement proceedings, opposition and nullity suits specifically in respect of cases at the European Patent Office and German Patent and Trademark Office, as well as the Federal Patent Court. Complimentary thereto, a specialized team of attorneys is readily available in the areas of trademark and competition law as well as licensing and contractual law.