We protect your Intellectual Property, internationally.
A German and European patent, trademark and design attorney firm near Munich, serving clients worldwide from a single source — from first filing to enforcement.
All IP services, from one single source
For a wide range of clients — from individual inventors to global corporates — in every phase of the IP lifecycle.
Prosecution & Enforcement
Patent prosecution, infringement proceedings and technical support in SEP/FRAND licensing negotiations.
Patent Applications
Transparent, competitive packages for German and European applications, and national or regional phase entries of PCT applications.
Portfolio Administration
High-volume formalities — annuity payments, renewals, assignments, recordals, changes of name or address.
Patent Due Diligence
Comprehensible patent portfolio evaluations for investors, startups and scaleups at an early stage of the business.
A patent protects new, inventive and industrially applicable devices, substances, methods and uses — including computer-implemented inventions with a technical effect — for up to 20 years. German applications (DPMA) offer low official fees and a flexible examination window of up to seven years; European applications (EPO) reach all EU and further European states through one centralized procedure. Both can be extended internationally via a PCT application within 12 months of the first filing.
Unitary Patent & the UPC
Since 1 June 2023, a granted European patent can be given unitary effect across the participating EU member states through a single request — one right, one renewal fee, one court. Disputes over both Unitary Patents and classic European patents fall, in principle, under the jurisdiction of the new Unified Patent Court (UPC).
The UPC opt-out
For classic (non-unitary) European patents and applications, owners can opt out of the UPC's jurisdiction during a transitional period of seven years from 1 June 2023 (extendable to fourteen), keeping enforcement exclusively before national courts. An opt-out must be filed before any action is brought at the UPC and can generally be withdrawn once. Whether unitary effect or an opt-out is the better fit depends on your portfolio, markets and litigation strategy — we are happy to work this out with you.
Further information — on maintenance fees, oppositions, nullity or infringement proceedings, freedom-to-operate analyses and employee inventions — is available on request, in English or German.
A trademark protects the name of a company, product or service, its logo, and — under certain conditions — slogans, shapes, colors and even sounds. Registration can be sought nationally at the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA), across the entire EU as a single Union trademark (EUIPO), or worldwide via the Madrid System, building on a German or EU base application within six months.
Offices do not check for earlier identical or similar marks before registration, so a clearance search is an important first step. Once registered, a trademark is a provable, public right that can be enforced against confusingly similar later marks, secures a domain name, and can be used to oppose conflicting applications — provided it stays in genuine use.
A registered design protects the external appearance of a product or part of it — its shape, pattern or color scheme — as well as graphic symbols and typefaces. It is a strong, often underestimated right: quick to obtain, and effective alongside patents and trademarks.
A German registered design (DPMA) covers Germany; a Registered Community Design (EUIPO) covers the whole European Union in a single, cost-effective filing. Both grant a twelve-month grace period for the designer's own prior publication or use.
Team
Two partners, decades of combined experience in patent prosecution, standard-essential patents and technology transactions.
Yorck Hernandez
Yorck Hernandez is a German and European patent attorney with a strong background in engineering and telecommunications. Based in Grünwald / Munich, he is a renowned expert in standard-essential patents, supporting clients in prosecuting patent applications across Germany and Europe and enforcing IP rights worldwide. Since 2009 he has focused on evaluating SEPs and regularly heads technical licensing negotiations globally, including in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the US.
He co-founded CrowdPatent.com, the world's first online platform connecting inventors, investors and innovators, and later co-founded Corporate Ventures Advisory, offering curated matchmaking between global B2B startups and European corporates and investors. He also mentors startups pro bono at Munich-based accelerators TechFounders and RESPOND, and is founder and owner of Abalon Global GmbH, a global consultancy and investor for scaleups. Yorck regularly lectures on German and European patent law in Germany, Asia and the US.
German, English, Spanish, French
Dr. Moritz Bürck
Moritz focuses on patent prosecution, having drafted more than 500 patent applications and built extensive, high-value portfolios for his clients. His technical expertise centers on computer-implemented inventions in machine learning and AI, assistance systems, image processing, and information and communication technology. He values close collaboration with inventors and particularly enjoys the direct exchange of ideas throughout the drafting process.
German, English, Japanese, French
Contact
Feel free to reach out anytime — we aim to respond within 24 hours.
HERNANDEZ IP
82031 Grünwald (Munich), Germany
Grünwald · near Munich
We are based in Grünwald, just outside Munich — Europe's center for intellectual property protection, home to the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA), the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Federal Patent Court (BPatG).
Yorck Hernandez also acts as a patent attorney providing cross-border services in Austria under Section 16a of the Austrian Patent Attorneys Act.