Sprenger law firm

Strongmark legal is backed by the experienced and highly specialized law firm Sprenger. Our team, consisting of specialist lawyers, research assistants and a highly qualified secretariat, has many years of experience and specialization in trademark law. We are proud to be your trusted partner in all trademark law matters.

Our advice on trademark law includes comprehensive support. We offer IP rights management for large companies and customized service packages for small and medium-sized enterprises and freelancers.

We see our role as your trademark attorney as a continuous and consistent activity to look after your protected rights. Trademark law is not a static state that is merely managed by a lawyer. Rather, it is an ongoing process that is legally supported, strengthened and secured by a competent lawyer.

Dominik Sprenger

Lawyer, specialist lawyer for intellectual property rights

Mr. Sprenger has been a lawyer since 1998 and has headed the SPRENGER law firm, which focuses on trademark law, since 2005. As a specialist lawyer for intellectual property law, his focus is on trademark law. He has published numerous publications and seminars on trademark law and headed the department for competition and trademark law in a Hamburg law firm. He is currently a lecturer in design law at the Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences and chairman of an IHK arbitration board. He is also involved in social projects as a rock musician.

Email: sprenger@kanzlei-sprenger.de
Phone: 02361 908 55 0
Fax: 02361 908 55 11

Ulrich Bender

Lawyer, specialist lawyer for intellectual property rights

Mr. Bender is a trained industrial clerk and has worked for several years in various commercial positions. After studying law in Marburg and Münster, he worked on legal issues relating to international trade in Vienna, Zagreb and Durban (South Africa). Mr. Bender has been admitted to the bar since 2001. While working for several years in a law and patent law firm in Bochum, he developed his specialties as a lawyer in trademark law, design protection and copyright law as well as in competition and commercial law. He is a specialist lawyer for intellectual property law, with trademark law being a sub-area of this specialty. Mr. Bender joined our law firm in February 2008.

Email: bender@kanzlei-sprenger.de
Phone: 02361 908 55 0
Fax: 02361 908 55 11

Niklas Rademacher

Lawyer

Niklas Rademacher began his career in our firm as a research assistant and completed a phase of his legal traineeship in our firm. Today he enriches our team in the role of a lawyer.

Email: n.rademacher@kanzlei-sprenger.de
Phone: 02361 908 55 0
Fax: 02361 908 55 11

Stefanie Hoffmann

Office management, paralegal

Stefanie Hoffmann heads the office of the law firm Sprenger Anwälte für Ideen in Recklinghausen. She has been working in the field of intellectual property law since 2007, with a focus on trademark law. She played a key role in setting up the legal management of a large number of trademark rights in an international law firm in Düsseldorf and is very familiar with the daily challenges of this field. She returned to Sprenger in 2017 and took on the role of office manager.

Email: hoffmann@kanzlei-sprenger.de
Phone: 02361 908 55 0
Fax: 02361 908 55 11

Stefanie Wekdam

Patent paralegal, patent clerk

Stefanie Wekdam, a qualified patent paralegal and patent consultant, has around 20 years of experience in trademark, design and patent matters. She acquired her training and several years of professional experience in an extensive patent and law firm in Essen. She has been a valuable part of the Sprenger law firm team since 2018.

Email: wekdam@kanzlei-sprenger.de
Phone: 02361 908 55 0
Fax: 02361 908 55 11

Michelle Ackermann

Apprentices

We are proud of our up-and-coming talent: Michelle Ackermann, our trainee, enriches our law firm as a future paralegal.

Email: ackermann@kanzlei-sprenger.de
Phone: 02361 908 55 0
Fax: 02361 908 55 11

When do you need a lawyer for trademark law?

As soon as you publicly use a name or other markings for your offers, it is advisable to contact a trademark lawyer. From this point onwards, there is a risk that you will be prosecuted on the basis of older, conflicting trademark rights. This risk also exists if your project is not commercial. Whether you do not consider a name to be a trademark or do not consider it to be confusable under trademark law is irrelevant. In line with the famous quote from the scientist Paul Watzlawick about communication: "You cannot not communicate", every perceptible behavior is usually evaluated in some way, even if we do not intend to communicate. Since in trademark law, as in communication, only the effect on the recipient counts, we cannot protect ourselves from legal collisions. In addition, you certainly do not want your name or labeling to be used for third-party, competing products or services. This also applies to non-commercial projects. You may not fear a loss of sales due to imitations, but you certainly do not want donations to end up with the wrong recipients due to the confusability of your project name. A trademark attorney can help you minimize these risks.

What exactly can happen if a trademark right is not checked and registered by a lawyer or not at all?

Without registered trademark protection, your sign, such as a brand word or logo, can be used by competitors for similar goods or services. Even if you were the first company to use this trademark, it is not protected without registered trademark rights. An already registered domain does not automatically guarantee you a trademark right for the sign it contains.

It can happen that you are prohibited by a court from using a trademark that you first used but did not register. In the worst case scenario, you will have no choice but to use a new, this time protected trademark for your product. Your investment in the original trademark development and advertising would then be useless.

It can be expensive and nerve-wracking if a competitor sends you a warning letter for allegedly infringing their older trademark rights. Such a warning letter usually demands that you stop using the disputed trademark right immediately. This could mean that you have to recall advertising materials and goods that are already on the market.

In addition, there is an obligation to provide complete information about the sales generated with the disputed trademark. In the event of an alleged infringement of trademark rights, damages and reimbursement of the costs of the opposing lawyer are usually also demanded. This does not even change if the infringement of trademark rights occurred without any fault. 

If no out-of-court settlement is reached, considerable additional costs may be incurred if no successful defense against the claims made is possible in court. It is important to know that regional courts, not district courts, have jurisdiction for trademark rights at first instance. Before the regional court, there is an obligation to be represented by a lawyer.

Fortunately, conflicts in trademark law are sometimes limited to opposition proceedings. In such proceedings, the registration authority decides whether the contested trademark right should be deleted from the register. The registration authority cannot issue a prohibition of use. A court would have to be called upon for this.

Is it worth getting a lawyer for trademark law involved afterwards if a conflict has already arisen? Is there any point in doing so?

Yes, it makes sense to seek legal advice even in existing conflict situations. It is by no means unusual to consult a lawyer at a later date. Even in companies that act with great care, it can happen that a risk is overlooked. In such cases, the opportunity to find a safe path through legal advice has been missed.

The good news is: Not every warning letter is justified. On closer examination, we often find that the claims asserted do not have a sufficient basis or that effective counter-arguments can be put forward. Trademark disputes are usually time-critical, which means that investigations and legal reviews may not be as comprehensive as they would be with preventative advice. Nevertheless, we often discover a variety of useful arguments, even if we are only consulted after the fact.

Even in the case of justified warnings, it is often possible to at least limit the damage and find an economically viable solution. This can also be achieved by negotiating a so-called delimitation agreement. This enables the peaceful coexistence of two similar trademarks, which can then be used in different sectors without conflict.

However, it remains the case that preventive advice involves fewer costs and compromises.

Is it not possible to apply for a trademark at the Office without a trademark attorney? Won't they automatically check for any conflicts with earlier trademarks?

ach mark registration at the DPMA can also be carried out without legal support. However, unlike a specialized trade mark attorney, the Office is not entitled to offer legal advice. Therefore, the Office does not check, for example, whether the application is aimed at the products and services you wish to protect or whether it fails to do so. In particular, it does not check by default whether conflicts with existing trademarks could arise. In some countries worldwide, such an examination is carried out ex officio, although the offices generally do not assume any liability for this. In Germany, such an examination is not carried out automatically by the office, but only if a third party files an opposition against the trademark application. Anyone wishing to protect their trademark rights must therefore ensure that any potential conflicts are checked themselves. It is therefore advisable to seek advice and support from an experienced trademark attorney. We support you in establishing strong trademarks.