OUR RULES
It is our responsibility to:
(a) Practice in good faith and objectively, in compliance with the law and our obligations to protect your interests.
(b) Avoid conflicts of interest in serving competing companies. We are not going to act for or against another customer on an issue involving an active dispute between them and you without your written consent and the other customer’s consent.
(c) To ensure that the advice and opinions you receive from us are completely independent and do not use knowledge or information confidential to a third party, and we will not use your confidential information for the benefit of a third party.
We formally identify a client by following these steps:
(a) The person who makes the initial instructions to us is our client – incl. lawyers, patent attorneys or agents abroad, not the persons on whose behalf they act.
(b) In the case of joint claimants or co-owners (in the absence of specific written instructions to the contrary), we will report and accept instructions only from the first named claimant or co-owner, although all claimants / owners are responsible for paying our fees and costs, together and separately.
Terms and form of instructions:
(a) We require timely, complete and accurate information from the customer. We accept instructions that are in writing and oral – provided they are confirmed in writing by e-mail within the same day.
(b) We take responsibility on your behalf to comply with the deadlines of the relevant Patent Offices, requiring you to provide instructions that are clear, complete and sufficiently timely to allow us to act within the official deadlines.
Up to date information:
It is important that you inform us in a timely manner of any change of address, telephone and fax numbers and of any change in ownership of your patent, trademark or other relevant intellectual property rights. Many of these changes need to be officially registered. Obtaining patents, trademarks and design rights can take many years. Liability for loss of rights cannot be accepted if you have failed to inform us of such changes.
Correspondence:
(a) We will contact you by phone and e-mail. With your prior consent, we will send our correspondence by mail at your expense.
(b) We reserve the right to send all official documents only by post.
Instructing third parties to act on your behalf:
(a) As part of the execution of your instructions, we may need to instruct third parties (such as foreign lawyers or patent agents) to act on your behalf. We may instruct these third parties to act directly on your behalf or ask you to sign a power of attorney or similar document to engage such a third party directly.
(b) These third parties may not be part of our law firm. However, we will try to require high quality performance of their assigned work when choosing them.
Powers of attorney:
For the period during which you instruct us to carry out activities on your behalf, you hereby agree to provide us with an explicit authorization to complete and sign on your behalf such forms or other documents necessary for the execution of your instructions. You agree to compensate us for the fees and expenses that may be incurred in the exercise of this power of attorney.
Professional fees:
(a) Our fees are mainly based on the amount of professional time spent on the issue and are set out in our Price List.
(b) We reserve the right to adjust the fees set by us if high professional knowledge is required or if the matter is complex and / or urgent. Fixed fees can be assigned for specific tasks (eg filling out a patent application).
Payment of expenses:
(a) You will be responsible for paying the costs charged for our services performed in your interest. These costs may include (but are not limited to) Patent Office fees, attorney’s fees, court fees, expert or other agent fees (including foreign lawyers), photocopying fees, couriers, travel and meeting costs, and certain costs for fax phones.
(b) We demand our fees to be paid 50% in advance and 50% when finalising the relevant actions on our part. (c) If we instruct third parties abroad on your behalf in relation to the services we provide for you, you agree that we have the right to prepare an additional fee to cover our respective administrative fees and additional professional costs. Details of all our costs will be provided to you in addition to the proforma of each payment document.
Payment:
We require you to make regular payments on the payment documents submitted by us within 30 days of their issuance.
Information storage:
(a) The files we create in the service of your case are and remain our property at all times in connection with the recommended practice.
(b) If you send us documents in original, samples or other materials and at the same time you do not inform us that you wish them returned to you, we will include them in our files and store them in due order.
(c) If you wish to transfer our services to another law firm, we will release these files.
(d) We may destroy our correspondence files, project documents and other papers, incl. and personal data that are older than 5 years. In the absence of instructions to the contrary from you, we will assume that you agree with this.
Confidential information:
(a) While working for you, we collect information and documents that are relevant to you. We keep this information and documentation confidential, except when required to be disclosed by law or regulation, or in other exceptional circumstances.
(b) We use and store the personal data necessary for the course of our work, in accordance with the requirements for the storage of personal data of EU Regulation 2016/679.
(c) We also require that you restrict disclosure and maintain control over any information that is not in the public domain and is relevant to us, the instructions we receive, or the results of its implementation.
Research:
All the research required is performed by us in specialized databases. Due to permissible errors in classifications, indexes, computer databases and official reports, no study can be guaranteed in terms of completeness or accuracy. We will make every effort to point out the special limitations when communicating the results of the survey so that we guarantee your best interest as much as possible.
Notices and forms of written communication between you and us
All notices and forms of written communication between you and us during the period of our services will be via electronic means, at addresses specified in advance and confirmed by you.
Complaints:
We value the good relationships with our customers. We also accept that difficulties and misunderstandings arise from time to time. If you have problems, do not hesitate to discuss your concerns with the managing partner.
Termination:
We will continue to work with you until any of the following events occur:
(a) completion of the work you have instructed us to perform;
(b) Your invoice remains unpaid for an extended period;
(c) We believe it is not in our best mutual interest to continue to work for you;
(d) You notify us that you have decided to discontinue using our services;
Protection of your personal data:
We guarantee full compliance with the requirements of Regulation / EU / 2016/679. We process your personal data for the purposes of registration of intellectual property. The disclosure of personal data by the client is subject to informed consent on his part and entirely in his favor. Your personal data is stored by us for the duration of the relevant administrative or judicial procedure and 12 months after its completion, when they are archived and destroyed.