IP, IT and data

Copyright is one of the most complex areas of law when it comes to understanding the individual legal relationships. The author of a work has certain rights, the artist who interprets the work has others, and, for example, a record company or the cameraman or director of an audiovisual recording have yet other rights. That is precisely why the Steiniger law firm is here — to help you understand these relationships and defend your copyright.

Licence terms and use of a work

If you create a work that you plan to distribute among people, free of charge or for money, it is important to also set the terms of use under which people may use it. You can use some of the publicly available licence terms, such as Creative Commons, or set your own terms. A special service is also the situation where you need to consult the licence terms for using someone else’s work for your project — even where different foreign legal cultures and Anglo-American copyright law are involved.

Assistance in organising events with artists

A special area in which we at Steiniger have extensive experience is organising various kinds of events with the participation of domestic or foreign artists. Perhaps the most essential is agreeing the terms of the artist’s participation, the form of paying the fee, covering costs and their taxation, the licence terms for the performance given, or a risk analysis in the event of their possible non-attendance — all of this must be resolved so that your event runs smoothly.

Industrial property

A specific area of intellectual property are the so-called industrial property rights, which include in particular the trademark, patent, utility model or design. Their specificity lies above all in the fact that they are registrable forms of protecting your rights, and in the effort for international uniformity in their protection, recognition and enforcement. Steiniger will be very glad to set up a suitable strategy for protecting your rights.

Trademark registration

Perhaps the simplest, but also the most essential, way to distinguish yourself from the competition is through a name, logo or another form of your presentation. You can register a trademark – word, figurative, sound or multimedia – for the entire EU, or even an international trademark. Each year we register several dozen trademarks for many local and international clients, and we also help with monitoring their infringement.

Design registration

Many entrepreneurs and companies are not even aware of the possibility of registering a design and how to protect it. A design means the external appearance of a product or part of it, consisting of features such as lines, contours, colours, shape, structure or material. If the design of your product is new and has an individual character, it is eligible for protection, registration and subsequent licensing.

Patent registration

The highest form of protection we know today is the patent. If you possess a unique technical solution to a problem that is globally unique and new, you have a high probability of obtaining a patent. In addition to the technical description of the patent and the patent claims, it is important to consider the overall registration strategy, its territorial use and your financial possibilities — and that is why it pays to have a reliable partner and advisor such as Steiniger at your side.

In an entrepreneur’s life it is highly likely that, alongside compliance legal services, their business may also involve questions of IT or communications law. This concerns not only the relationship to information technology itself, but also various processes related to the use of the internet, the website, building advertising and a trade name in the online space, and the protection of intellectual property rights.

When it comes to providing IT services, such as cloud computing services, applications or software programs available online, it will be decisive for a successful business that relationships with customers are regulated through a so-called SLA. An SLA (Service Level Agreement) governs in particular the cyclical provision of IT services so that the customer has defined limits and ways of using them, while the provider is protected against unauthorised interference.

In the case of creating websites or software products, it is important above all to appropriately and correctly set up the legal relationships with the creators of copyrighted works, whether internal employees or external partners. The subsequent step is usually setting up the licence terms or terms of use of the services (SaaS) so that the interests of the licence owner are protected, as well as the precisely defined scope of the user’s use of the software.

Steiniger also has a team of network security specialists with international CISA (Certified Information System Auditor) certificates, and thus also provides services in the area of regulating communication technologies, the terms for providing internet and television services, handling administrative fine proceedings or obtaining broadcasting licences.

European Union legislation known as GDPR, ePrivacy or legal regulations in the area of the protection of personality rights and privacy are, in everyday business, connected with specific individuals. If you have not correctly settled the legal obligations relating to natural persons, you expose yourself to the risk of high sanctions from the state, as well as lawsuits by these individuals and the loss of business reputation.

GDPR

The GDPR itself lays down a number of obligations that accompany the processing of personal data. The solution to these obligations is the introduction of internal rules tailored to your company. A set of these internal rules in the form of a GDPR Compliance project will help protect you against sanctions from the state, give you an overview of your internal processes, and also increase your company’s reputation. You will notice a particular benefit in the potential sale of your company, when you will have to demonstrate during due diligence that all processes are settled in accordance with legal standards.

ePrivacy

Regulation in the form of ePrivacy is considered an extension of the GDPR and its special arrangement. It focuses on companies providing communication services, online tracking or online marketing. ePrivacy also lays down obligations for you in connection with the use of so-called cookies on your website and the sending of spam, determining how you may use these technologies and how you may handle data.

Protection of personality and privacy

The protection of personality or privacy in the online world manifests itself above all in the fact that, without your knowledge, you end up on dubious internet lists, in discrediting campaigns waged against you, or in false information spread by the media. Steiniger will help you defend yourself against these practices by legal means.