US Trademark Search $250

PARTIES: This Agreement is made between the Law Firm of Hucke & Hucke GbR (“Attorney”) and You (“Client”). This Agreement is effective and fully-executed when and until a written acceptance is confirmed via registered email from Attorney to Client.

§1 Scope of Representation: Attorney is engaged to represent Client for the purpose of:
- Performing a trademark similarity search in the trademark Federal Trademarks Register of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the WIPO and the 50 US State Registers.
- Undertaking a Common Law Trademark search in applicable databases.
- Examination of client’s trademark for absolute grounds of refusal.

The scope of representation is hereafter referred to as the “matter” or “engagement”. However, engagement does not include:
- A guarantee that every owner of a mark and name that we regard as different from your mark would agree with our opinion. Nor can we predict that a Patent and Trademark Office examiner would agree with our opinion, or that the outcome of a contested proceeding in the Courts or in the Patent and Trademark Office would be favorable, because they could reveal facts that are not now known to us. Also, the opinion we are providing is based solely on the results of the search report and it is possible, although very unlikely, that a pertinent reference has been overlooked by the searching service.
- A guarantee that the trademark is registered by the USPTO or the duration of the registration process.

§ 2 Billing and Fee Policy: Our fee for the matter stated under § 1 is a flat fee of $250. The client is send a credit card authorization form for payment of the firm’s flat fee $250 plus any credit card charges. As a condition of the employment of Lawyer, Client agrees to pay $250 to Lawyer as a flat fee for the legal work specified under §1 to be performed by Lawyer for Client. Client understands and specifically agrees that:
- the flat fee is the entire payment for the specified legal work to be performed by Lawyer regardless of the amount of time that it takes Lawyer to perform the legal work;
- the flat fee will be earned by Lawyer immediately upon payment and will be deposited in Lawyer’s business account rather than a client trust account; and
- when Lawyer’s representation ends, Client will not be entitled to a refund of any portion of the flat fee unless (1) the legal work is not completed, in which event a proportionate refund may be owed, or (2) it can be demonstrated that the flat fee is clearly excessive under the circumstances.

§3 Client’s Duties: The client shall inform the firm completely and fully of the facts known to him, which are essential to the processing of the matter (e.g. if it is known to the client that the trademark is similar to an existing mark already registered or used). As a matter of principle, the firm can trust and rely on the information provided by the client without its own investigation thereof and may base its processing of the engagement on these information. The client is obliged to check all the documents provided by the lawyer to ensure that the facts stated therein are true and complete and to submit its comments without delay to the firm. The client agrees to promptly cooperate in the execution of their mandate.

§ 4 Liability / Limitation of Liability: The liability of the lawyer from the engagement between him and the client for compensation for damage caused by negligence, is hereby limited to € 500,000.00 (§51a German Federal Lawyers' Act). If the client wishes to secure a liability in excess of this amount, additional insurance coverage can be obtained at the request and expense of the client for each individual case.

§ 5 Governing law: Both this Agreement and all aspects of the relationship between CLIENT and the firm will be governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, without regard to its choice-of-law principles.

§ 6 Agreement conferring jurisdiction: The courts having jurisdiction in Cologne, Germany, will have exclusive jurisdiction of any action arising out of or relating to this Agreement or the relationship between CLIENT and the firm; all parties agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.

§ 7 Entire Agreement / Severability: This Agreement contains the entire agreement between Client and Attorney relative thereto. This Agreement shall not be modified except by written agreement signed by Client and Attorney. If any provisions of this Agreement are held in whole or in part to be unenforceable for any reason, the remainder of that provision and of the entire Agreement will be severable and remain in effect.