Copyright and trademark law expert Prof. Dr. Stefan Haupt expands the range of legal advice we offer to TLC clients

TLC AG and lawyer Prof. Dr. Stefan Haupt will start a cooperation on 01.01.2021. In the age of digitalisation, TLC AG would like to expand its range of services in the field of new media as well as trademark law. Prof. Dr. Stefan Haupt provides the following expertise:

1. On copyright law

Nowadays, copyright issues are no longer limited to traditional media companies such as publishers or film producers. Every digitally operating company is confronted with legal questions from the field of copyright law. This concerns, among other things:

• Software,
• databases,
• websites,
• advertising films,
• all materials used in the context of press and public relations work.

Prof. Haupt has been the editor of the series "Berliner Bibliothek zum Urheberrecht" for over ten years. The 3rd edition of vol. 3 with the title "Copyright in Schools" will be published this year. We are enclosing a corresponding slide show.

2 Trademark Law

Since the Trademark Act came into force on 01.01.1995, Prof. Haupt has been dealing with questions of trademark law. This includes, among other things

• trade mark searches,
• trade mark applications in Germany, EU-wide and worldwide,
• the monitoring of trade marks,
• the conduct of legal disputes as well as
• domain disputes.

It is often the case that entrepreneurs spend a lot of time and money on establishing a brand or branding. In doing so, it is often forgotten to protect the trademark and for this reason to have it monitored in order to be able to take timely action against identical and confusable signs.

3. Mediation

In 2016, Professor Haupt completed training as a mediator.

There is an increasing push in EU directives to use mediation to resolve disputes. This has just been reflected in the DSM Directive of 17.04.2019. The latter is to be transposed into national law by 07.06.2021. Compared to a court dispute, the mediation process offers the following advantages:

• the parties act on their own responsibility,
• meeting at eye level,
• equality of arms, because the mediation procedure does not depend on the size of the law firms of the lawyers involved in the legal dispute
• joint search for a solution.

We have attached the PDF of a special print published as a supplement to the magazine "Stiftung und Sponsoring" (Foundation and Sponsoring), which describes the legal basis, principles and individual phases of the mediation process in an exemplary manner for foundations and NGOs.