With our idea consultancy, we aim to support the creative potential of startups and offer them the opportunity to clarify questions about intellectual property (IP) in personal discussion with us.

Protecting intellectual property

Intellectual property (IP) covers a wide range of intangible assets such as inventions, names, designs, copyrights, and trade secrets. Needless to say, intellectual property is a particularly important part of a startup’s company capital. Properly protecting this capital can make a major contribution to the long-term success of your business.

Trademark for startups

Launching a startup involves accounting for the many aspects of trademark law. While it may feel like an endless list of requirements at first, we break down the topic of trademark protection into bite-sized topics to tackle one by one. Our idea consultancy helps entrepreneurs get to grips with trademark for startups by addressing the following questions:

• How do I choose a name or a logo for my company or my product?
• Can I protect the name or the logo?
• How do I protect the name of my firm or my product in such a way that the widest possible scope of protection is achieved, and competitors are inhibited from copying or imitating the name?
• I know a company that uses a similar name. What should I do?
• How much does a trademark registration cost?

Patent and utility model law for startups

With the development team hard at work, it’s only a matter of time before a startup comes up with an invention. Once intellectual property has been created, the next step involves looking into patents and utility models. Get all the legal advice you require from a startup patent attorney. We answer questions, such as:

• Did I make an invention? Can I protect it?
• What is the difference between a patent and a utility model? Which one should I choose?
• What are the costs involved?

Design law for startups

Intellectual property, patents, trademark protection and copyrights. With so many protection options available, it isn’t always easy to determine which is the best for your invention. Either way, it’s important to protect your designs and trade secrets, which is something we look at by addressing the questions below during our idea consultancy.

• What is a design? Is it an alternative to patents and utility models, or a reasonable addition to their scope of protection?
• What options of protection are available?

WIPANO and further funding opportunities for startups

Not sure where to start when it comes to raising capital to fund your startup ambitions? Register for our idea consultancy to learn all about the available funding options, including government grants. During the consultancy sessions, we cover the following questions:

• What funding options exist for registering intellectual property rights?
• Which conditions do I have to fulfil?
• I heard about WIPANO. What do I have to do to receive a corresponding funding?

Individual consulting for your startup

In addition to answering general questions, our idea consultancy shall allow a discussion of specific issues with individual advice. This is the reason why we allocate 45 minutes for each appointment for a very affordable fee of € 100 (Plus VAT).

Our colleagues Karin, Thorsten and Torben are responsible for our idea consultancy. In addition to their passion for innovation, they have vast experience in successfully supporting startup companies. They are particularly familiar with funding opportunities, especially the WIPANO program, and have been working with the Chambers of Commerce in this regard for a long time. WIPANO stands for knowledge and technology transfer through patents and standards of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and allows a funding rate of up to 50% of eligible expenditure.

Protecting the intellectual property of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

Small and medium-sized enterprises have different needs than start-ups when it comes to protecting innovations, ideas, trademarks or patents. In contrast to start-ups, which focus on rapid and exponential growth, small and medium-sized enterprises develop their innovative strength step by step in order to grow sustainably with the help of proven business models and establish themselves on the market in the long term. Their operational inventions form the basis of their business and must therefore be effectively protected against infringements of property rights.

Not sure whether you are a start-up or already an SME? No problem. You can make an individual appointment at any time and discuss all questions relating to the registration of property rights or funding through the WIPANO programme with our experienced patent attorneys. Of course, you can also simply register for the next ideas consultation to receive personalised advice.

Dates and registration for the idea consultansy

Our idea consultancy is in Hamburg every third Tuesday of the month from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

The next dates are:

• September 17, 2024
• October 15, 2024
• November 19, 2024

We are now also offering the ideas consultation in Frankfurt. The next date is:

• October 10, 2024 (13:00 p.m. to 16:00 p.m.)

For the date in Frankfurt, please register by September 30, 2024 at the latest. We will add further dates and locations here in the future. So please check back from time to time.

Feel free to register at +49 40 30997970 or at ham@rgth.de.

We can also conduct the appointment via video conference. Feel free to contact us!

We look forward to your creative ideas!