KLAKA is a highly specialised law firm based in Munich. With its 15 lawyers, the law firm concentrates almost exclusively on intellectual property. In this field of expertise, the firm is highly regarded nationally and internationally for its dedicated, experienced work in court and out of court. Through contributions made in expert committees, lectures and publications, the firm’s lawyers are actively involved in shaping the future of the profession. The firm was founded in the late 1970s by Rainer Klaka, who brought in a large client base and the experience of many years in the field. Since then, the firm’s standing has con- tinually been strengthened while maintaining the structure of an independent and autonomous law firm. Many of the cases taken on by the law firm, especially in the fields of patents and trademarks, have an international background such as cross-border litigation, or concern questions of foreign and international law arising in counselling or litigation. The firm is therefore accustomed to co-ordinating and/or conducting cases of international significance.

Intellectual Property (Trademarks) & Unfair Competition:

The firm’s strong trademark litigation practice is headed by partners Dr Andreas Schulz and Dr Ralf Hackbarth in Munich. The firm is involved in trademark and trade name infringement cases before the competent German courts, as well as counselling and the conducting of international litigation, in particular with strategies for pan- European litigation proceedings. The enforcement of design protection, by design law and unfair competition law, is also an increasingly important task for the firm’s design experts in the international IP litigation practice. The trademark prosecution department is headed by Oliver Rauscher. KLAKA prosecutes and maintains worldwide trademark portfolios for a number of clients and is active in the conducting of infringement suits and offering legal advice in the fields of copyright law, design patents, unfair competition law, press and media law, IT and internet law, and food and drug law. A number of the firm’s lawyers also have experience in the field of antitrust law.

Patent Litigation & Advice, Utility Models:

Patent law at KLAKA is represented by the partners Olaf Giebe, Dr Wolfgang Götz, Dr Stefan Eck and Dr Constantin Kurtz in Munich. In defending clients against actions based on SEPs of counsel Dr Wolfgang Straub is joining the team contributing his experience in antitrust law when raising the FRAND defense. The excellence of the KLAKA law firm in this field is based on a profound understand- ing of technologically and economically interrelated themes as well as on comprehensive experience in enforcing claims before the specialised German patent courts. This includes infringement suits before the competent German courts, especially in Dusseldorf, Munich, and Mannheim, and, in co-operation with external patent attorney firms, opposition and nullity (revocation) proceedings before the German and European Patent Offices, the Federal Patent Court and the Federal Supreme Court; the firm also provides legal advice in these fields, as well as co-operating or co-ordinating multinational cases.

Clients:

The KLAKA law firm continues to strengthen its leading position in patent and trademark law in Germany. Alongside providing legal advice to German companies, another main area of activity is the representation of international groups, predominantly from Europe, the United States and Japan.