General terms and conditions
1. Area of application
These terms and conditions apply to all present and future contracts between Kutzenberger Wolff & Partner Patent-anwaltspartnerschaft mbB (with its registered office in Cologne, partnership register with the Essen district court, PR 2755) and its clients the purpose of which is legal advice and/or representation (mandate) unless otherwise expressly agreed in writing or required by law. Mandates are as a basic principle issued to Kutzenberger Wolff & Partner and not to individual partners and/or persons working for Kutzenberger Wolff & Partner.
2. Scope and execution of mandate
a) The subject of the mandate is the agreed service and not a specific legal or financial outcome. The mandate is exe-cuted in accordance with the principles of professional practice subject to continuous training and consideration of current legal developments.
b) Unless otherwise expressly agreed in writing, the mandate is executed taking account of German law and exclusively the law of the European Union applicable in Germany.
c) Kutzenberger Wolff & Partner is entitled when executing the mandate to enlist the services of expert employees and third parties with the relevant expertise, particularly freelancers, insofar as they have likewise been placed under an obligation of professional secrecy.
3. Remuneration, advance payment and due date
a) Fees, disbursements and charges (remuneration) are governed by the remuneration agreements concluded or the scales of fees of Kutzenberger Wolff & Partner, alternatively by the relevant statutory fee provisions of the Law on Lawyers’ Fees (Gesetz über die Vergütung der Rechtsanwälte, RVG), which also applies mutatis mutandis for the re-muneration of patent attorneys in contentious proceedings.
b) Kutzenberger Wolff & Partner is entitled when the mandate is issued to invoice an appropriate advance payment for the likely remuneration involved and to make acceptance and/or continuation of the activity dependent on immediate payment thereof.
c) Remuneration is due immediately after receipt by the client of an invoice; default interest is payable after 30 days. Offset by the client against claims of Kutzenberger Wolff & Partner is permissible only insofar as the client’s claim is undisputed or has been established in law.
4. Liability and liability limitation
a) The principles of liability are based on the rules of the Partnership Law (Partnerschaftsgesellschaftsgesetz) and these terms and conditions. Only the corporate assets are liable for liabilities of Kutzenberger Wolff & Partner arising from losses on account of improper professional practice. The liability of Kutzenberger Wolff & Partner is limited for each individual client for cases of simply negligence to EUR 10,000,000 (ten million euros). The liability limitation does not apply in the event of culpably caused losses arising from injury to life, physical injury or damage to the health of a person. However, the liability limitation encompasses all losses on account of improper professional practice irre-spective of whether losses have arisen in one or more years.
b) Kutzenberger Wolff & Partner maintains liability insurance whose insured sum substantially exceeds the statutory minimum insured sum. At the client’s express request, it is possible in individual cases for insurance to be taken out in an amount desired by the client and to increase the liability limitation to such amount if agreement has been reached between Kutzenberger Wolff & Partner and the client beforehand concerning the associated costs.
c) Compensation may be claimed from Kutzenberger Wolff & Partner only within a preclusive period of one year after the loss and the event giving rise to the claim has come to the client’s knowledge but not later than five years from the event giving rise to the claim unless the client failed to meet such deadline through no fault of its own. The claim ex-pires if legal action is not taken within six months of written refusal of compensation and the client has been informed of such consequence. The right to object to the limitation of actions remains unaffected.
5. Applicable law, place of performance and place of jurisdiction
a) German law to the exclusion of German private international law applies exclusively to the attorney/client relationship.
b) The place of performance for all services concerning the attorney/client relationship and the exclusive local and inter-national place of jurisdiction for all legal disputes arising under the attorney/client relationship is Cologne.
6. Miscellaneous
a) If individual provisions hereof are or become unenforceable, the enforceability of the other provisions is unaffected thereby. The unenforceable provision must be replaced by a valid provision that comes as closely as possible to the objective pursued.
b) Amendments or additions hereto must be in writing and must be expressly identified as such. This also applies to the removal of the requirement of written form.