Our office has tradition.

The roots of our office go back to the initial days of industrial property in Germany. The first German trademark law came into force in 1894. In the same year trademark No 46, which is still administered by our office, was registered. Since 1981 our name has been KEIL & SCHAAFHAUSEN; today we are one of the leading patent attorney firms in Germany.*

Our office has written history.

The famous Federal Supreme Court decision 'Red Dove' (Rote Taube) originated from our office. Actually, this 'Red Dove' never existed. It was created by fantasy; the 'inventor' was our draftsman. Nevertheless, since 1969 the 'Red Dove' decision has been the basis for the technical definition of an invention. For the definition of the extent of protection of a patent the criteria established by the Federal Supreme Court in the decision 'Fastening Device' (Befestigungsvorrichtung) in 1990 are still valid. In the decision 'Impeller Flow Meter' (Flügelradzähler) the Federal Supreme Court addressed in 2004 the issues of indirect infringement and exhaustion of rights.

Our office has a skilled team.

Your affairs are in good hands. In addition to the daily secretarial work and the administration of protective rights, our staff is specialized in the maintenance of national and foreign rights. Employees with solid industry experience provide extensive knowledge in employee inventions, patent and trademark searches and surveillance of intellectual property rights. KEIL & SCHAAFHAUSEN maintains a world-wide net of contacts with foreign associates and cooperates in infringement proceedings with experienced attorneys at law.

Our office has successful clients.

We work with multinational and domestic companies, institutions, associations and independent inventors. The quality and individual counsel of KEIL & SCHAAFHAUSEN in all matters of industrial property is widely appreciated. Numerous firms have been placing confidence in us for decades.

* see JUVE Handbuch 2008/2009 "Wirtschaftskanzleien"