Are you ready for the Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court?
About UPC
After decades of discussion, the implementation of a so-called “Unitary Patent System”, i.e. the establishment of a Unitary Patent (UP) and a Unified Patent Court (UPC), has reached its final stages. The Unitary Patent (UP) aims to provide a single approach to patent protection and enforcement across 24 European Union Member States with a combined population of more than 350 million.
Using the existing European patent application procedure, a Unitary Patent will be administered centrally by the European Patent Office (EPO). Once obtained, a Unitary Patent will be enforceable throughout the participating Member States in a single action brought before the new Unified Patent Court (UPC).
The Unitary Patent entered into force on 1 June 2023 and will be a supplement to the existing European Patent.
Initially, Unitary Patents may not cover all participating Member States as some of them may not yet have ratified the UPC Agreement when it enters into force. Outstanding ratifications are likely to take place successively, so there may be different generations of Unitary Patents with different territorial coverage. The coverage of a given generation of Unitary Patents will stay the same for their entire lifetime, irrespective of any subsequent ratifications of the UPC Agreement after the date of registration of unitary effect. In other words, there will be no extension of the territorial coverage of Unitary Patents to other Member States which ratify the UPC Agreement after the registration of unitary effect by the EPO.
The Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court in short
The Unified Patent Court and the Unitary Patent are the building blocks which will supplement and strengthen the existing centralised European patent granting system.
They will offer users of the patent system a cost-effective option for patent protection and dispute settlements across Europe.
The Unified Patent Court will enter into force 1 June 2023, and Unitary Patents may be granted from the same day.
The UPC is an international court set up by participating EU and EPC member states
The UPC deals with infringement and validity of Unitary patents, European patents, and supplementary protection certificates (SPCs).
Unitary Patents make it possible to get patent protection in up to 24 of the 27 EU member states by submitting a single request to the European Patent Office, making the procedure simpler and more cost effective for applicants compared to the present procedure of national validation of granted EP patents.
However, as of today, March 2023, only 17 of the 27 participating EU states have ratified the Agreement of the Unified Patent Court (UPCA) and 3 EU states are not signatory states
How to obtain a Unitary Patent
Patent grant process and unitary effect:
Unitary Patent - Participating States
24 out of the 27 EU member states are part of the Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court:
17 out of the 24 UPC member states have ratified the Agreement of the Unified Patent Court (UPCA):
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Slovenia
Get ready!
Our specialist Unitary Patent team consists of experienced European Patent Attorneys with UPC litigation certificates who can represent clients before the Unitary Patent Court. The team is ready to help you understand the new system and enforce your patent rights throughout Europe.
Experts
If you want to learn more about the Unitary Patent Package and how aera’s experts can help you, please contact us or send an email directly to one of our experts below.
Nicka entered the patent profession in early 2001 after his biotech start-up firm ran out of cash, when joining a large Scandinavian IP firm – who up to that time had handled the IP of his own start-up.
In his early career Nicka specialised in advising universities and early stage companies within technology transfers. He has helped several companies through IP due diligence in successful private and public financing rounds and in giving firms advice on license negotiations.
Nicka understands the value of IP as a business tool, and clients appreciate his pragmatic commercial approach combined with his experience of patent prosecution and strategy in working with small, medium and large companies and academic institutions, ranging from spin-outs to multinationals.
Over the years as team leader and partner, Nicka developed interest in management, and in 2012 moved on to become CEO of one of Europe’s largest IP firms. In 2014, Nicka joined a newly founded patent boutique.
The entrepreneurial drive led to the founding of aera in the beginning of 2018, where Nicka will carry forward the desire to serve his clients, who cherish and value his devotion to solve complicated technical and legal issues before the EPO in both prosecution end opposition proceedings.
Managing IP: IP Star 2023
Recommended Individual – IAM Patent 1000 2023 Listed in IAM Strategy 300: The World’s Leading IP Strategists 2023
EDUCATION
European Patent Attorney
European Design Attorney
Certificate European Patent Litigation Course (Centre d’Etudes Internationales de là Propriété Intellectuelle), Université de Strasbourg, France
Business Management Competence Development Program, School of Business and Social Sciences, The University of Aarhus, Denmark,
Molecular biologist, Master of Science, The University of Aarhus, Denmark
Per Larsen
–
Partner
European Patent Attorney
UPC Representative
Ph.D.
+45 2763 2777
Per entered the patent profession in early 2008 after being part of a patent process during his own Ph.D., and subsequent Post. Doc.
After the Post.Doc he specialised in advising universities and early stage companies, including technology transfer, during nearly a decade at one of the largest IP firms in Scandinavia.
Here Per also had a chance to be part of the team that handled international relations, and he was also head of biotechnology.
The entrepreneurial drive led to the founding of aera in the beginning of 2018, where Per will continue to serve his clients with passion and commitment.
Per has helped several companies through IP due diligence in successful private and public financing rounds, and in giving firms advice on license negotiations.
He understands the value of IP as a business tool, and clients appreciate his pragmatic approach combined with his extensive experience in handling cases before the European Patent Office and other major and minor patent jurisdictions, from USA to Japan, and Brazil to Thailand.
Clients appreciate his commitment, including the ability to understand and communicate complicated technical and legal issues.
Recommended Individual – IAM Patent 1000 2023 Listed in IAM Strategy 300: The World’s Leading IP Strategists 2023
EDUCATION
European Patent Attorney
European Design Attorney
European Trademark Attorney
Certificate European Patent Litigation Course, Centre d’Etudes Internationales de là Propriété Intellectuelle, Université de Strasbourg, France
M.Sc. in molecular biology and chemistry, Aarhus University
Ph.D. in molecular biology, Aarhus University
EXPERIENCE
Molecular biology and medical related inventions
Immunology & radioimmunology
Vaccines
Diagnostics & prognostic markers
Biochemistry
Food technology
Process chemistry
Technology transfer & scouting
IP value extraction
MEMBERSHIPS
ADIPA (formerly The Danish Association of Patent Agents)
Hanane entered the patent profession in early 2009 with more than 10 years of experience in research and development in Telecommunications and Cyber security. She has worked both in industry and academia in Europe and in Japan.
Hanane applies her prior experience as a scientist to advise clients on all aspects of intellectual property, including patent drafting, prosecution, oppositions, acquisitions and competitive analysis. Hanane collaborates with a variety of clients ranging from multinational clients to small and medium size high tech companies in medical devices, consumer electronics, software, telecommunications, cryptography, and machine learning techniques.
Clients appreciate her ability to grasp complex techniques combined with her legal expertise in patent drafting, prosecution and strategy.
Her drive towards continuous improvement led to the founding of aera in the beginning of 2018, where Hanane serves clients with wit and passion.
Recommended Individual – IAM Patent 1000 2023
EDUCATION
European Patent Attorney
Ph.D. in Wireless Communications, Aalborg University, Denmark
M.Sc. E.E. , Aalborg University, Denmark
M.Sc. Telecommunication Engineering, Ecole Centrale d’Electronique, Paris, France
EXPERIENCE
Electronics
Software
Business Methods
Telecommunications
Cryptography
Blockchain Technology
Machine Learning Techniques
Technology Transfer & Scouting
MEMBERSHIPS
ADIPA (formerly The Danish Association of Patent Agents)
Anders Sandgaard
–
Partner
European Patent Attorney
UPC Representative
M.Sc. Engineering
+45 6065 2760
Anders has a M.Sc. in Engineering with heavy focus on Electronics & Mathematics from the Danish Technical University, where he worked with nonlinear dynamic systems and time series and entered the patent profession in 2003 in one of Europe’s largest IP-firms.
He has from day one been heavily involved with a major hearing aid and provided legal advice to protect all four cornerstones of smart hearing technology – audiology, connectivity, apps and design.
Anders has a profound understanding of the potential of Computer-implemented inventions (CII) and artificial intelligence (AI) in Europe, and since AI and software patents have the highest growth rate among all patent categories presented to the European Patent Office (EPO), his skills are in high demand ranging from largest software/hardware developer to the smallest start-up company with the vision to change the world.
With the explosion of the Internet of things (IoT) Anders has been committed to make an enormous effort in providing “invention harvesting” for clients who traditionally did not use IoT interaction, and filed numerous applications on the network of physical devices, vehicles, home appliances, and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and network connectivity which enable these objects to connect and exchange data.
Anders has extensive experience of prosecuting patent applications before numerous patent offices and frequently represents his clients at hearings before the EPO. His work has been used in successful global patent licensing and litigation discussions, and he also conducts opinion work.
Anders has been a CEIPI (Centre d’Études Internationales de la Propriété Intellectuelle) tutor since 2008 and continues to lecture prospective European Patent Attorneys in their preparation for the EQE (European qualifying examination), which tests candidates’ knowledge and aptitude to represent applicants in EPO proceedings and is widely regarded as one of the most demanding professional examinations.
RECOGNITIONS
Managing IP: IP Star 2023
Recommended Individual – IAM Patent 1000 2023
EDUCATION
European Patent Attorney
Certificate European Patent Litigation Course (Centre d’Etudes Internationales de là Propriété Intellectuelle, Université de Strasbourg, France
Master of Science in Engineering & Mathematics from the Danish Technical University (DTU)
EXPERIENCE
Electronics
Software and Artificial Intelligence
User Interfaces
Audiology
Sensors
Telecommunication
Mechanics
Optics
Medical Devices and Applications
MEMBERSHIPS
ADIPA (formerly The Danish Association of Patent Agents)
Henrik Skødt
–
Partner
European Patent Attorney
UPC Representative
Ph.D. Chemistry
+34 671 448 553
Henrik has extensive experience advising clients on all patent-related matters, most recently with a major German IP law firm and in-house with a major pharmaceutical company.
He has worked with all aspects of IP concerning pharmaceutical inventions, including SPCs. At the pharmaceutical company, he was responsible for EPO oppositions and therefore has substantial experience in both arguing cases before the opposition divisions and boards of appeal of the EPO, as well as working with the commercial aspects of pharmaceutical patenting.
Henrik furthermore has experience with patent litigation in Denmark supporting attorneys at law in arguing patent cases before the Danish courts, primarily in pharmaceutical patent litigation. He has acted as a court-appointed expert (skønsmand), which assists the court in determining the facts of the case.
In addition to working in contentious proceedings, he maintains his drafting and prosecution skills when assisting clients in protecting their innovations. He believes strongly in working closely with each individual client to arrive at the best filing strategy for the client, since the client’s business should take center stage in determining the strategy.
In addition to working with pharmaceutical portfolios, Henrik further has experience with chemical patents in general, in particular polymer-related inventions, such as coatings, hydrogels etc.
Recommended Individual – IAM Patent 1000 2023
EDUCATION
European Patent Attorney
Certificate European Patent Litigation Course (Centre d’Etudes Internationales de là Propriété Intellectuelle, Université de Strasbourg, France
Ph.D. and M.Sc. in chemistry from the University of Copenhagen
EXPERIENCE
Pharmaceuticals
Medical use
EPO oppositions and appeals
DK litigation
Coatings
Polymers
Chemical synthesis
Diagnostics
MEMBERSHIPS
ADIPA (formerly The Danish Association of Patent Agents)
Rasmus entered the patent profession in 2009. After finishing an M.Sc. in Vehicle Engineering at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, he joined the Swedish Patent Office as an examiner in the fields of vehicle technology and medical devices. Shortly thereafter he moved to Germany where he joined Suzlon Technology Group – a large Indian wind turbine manufacturer – as an inhouse patent attorney. While working closely with the company’s R&D departments in Germany, Denmark, The Netherlands and India, he gained valuable experience in patent drafting, prosecution and portfolio management.
In 2013, Rasmus entered private practice when he joined one of the Tier 1 IP firm in Sweden. There, he worked primarily with patent prosecution in the fields of IT/Telecommunications, vehicle technology and mechanical engineering. He was also frequently engaged in opposition proceedings before the EPO, freedom to operate investigations and litigation proceedings.
Rasmus has extensive knowledge within a wide range of technologies from mechanical inventions to complex cross border inventions that span over several fields of technology, such as software, electronics, sensors and telecommunications.
Having worked as an examiner and an inhouse patent attorney before private practice, Rasmus has gained a balanced view and understanding of the challenges faced in the different practice areas, which is highly appreciated by our clients.
Clients appreciate his positive personality, his solution-oriented approach to IP and his drive to provide solid and dedicated services.
Managing IP – IP Stars: Rising Star 2023
EDUCATION
European Patent Attorney
Authorised Patent Attorney (SE)
M.Sc. in Vehicle Technology, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm/Sweden
EXPERIENCE
Automotive
ICT & Software
Mechanics
Medical devices
Wind energy
Electronics
MEMBERSHIPS
European Patent Institute (EPI)
Patentombudsnämnden (SE)
Svenska Industrins Patentförening (SIPF)
Association of Intellectual Property Experts (VPP)
Johannes Wehner
–
Partner
European Patent Attorney
German Patent Attorney
UPC Representative
Ph.D. Chemistry
LL.M.
+49 160 83 68 705
Johannes entered the patent business in 2012.
Johannes studied law and chemistry with a strong focus on organic and biological chemistry. In patent law firms based in Munich, Germany, he worked as patent attorney and managing partner. Following his entrepreneurial mindset, Johannes founded his own law firm in greater Frankfurt area, Germany, in 2017.
Johannes enjoys keeping a bigger picture in mind. He practices comprehensive consultancy with international clients regarding their patent and brand portfolio. He strongly believes that regular engagement with inventors supports a creative mindset and keeps his network vivid. Johannes is convinced that close contact to each individual client is the decisive success factor for good IP protection. Clients appreciate his solution-oriented approach to IP and his commitment to provide excellent services.
Johannes has extensive experience in all kinds of patent matters, including drafting, filing and prosecution of patents, mainly in the area of in chemistry, biochemistry and related fields in particular in polymer chemistry, organic chemistry and inorganic chemistry as well as chemical engineering. Johannes is also regularly handling opposition and appeal cases for his clients.
Johannes holds a lecturer position at the University of Frankfurt where he teaches chemistry students the basics of patent law.
Listed in IAM Strategy 300: The World’s Leading IP Strategists 2023
EDUCATION
European Patent Attorney
German Patent Attorney
European Trademark & Design Attorney
Economic Lawyer (University of Bayreuth)
Ph.D. and Diploma in chemistry (University of Kiel)
LLM in Technology and Intellectual Property Law (University of Liverpool)
First state exam in law (Dipl. Jur.) (University of Kiel)
Ylva Skoglösa
–
Partner
European Patent Attorney
UPC Representative
Authorised Patent Attorney (SE)
Ph.D. Medical Research
+45 3139 2096 or +46 73-513 0384
Ylva entered the patent profession in 1999. After finishing a Ph.D. at BMC at Uppsala University, she specialized in strategic advising, prosecuting world-wide patent portfolios, life cycle management and litigation. Ylva has been a thought-after advisor for multinational companies, as well as universities and early stage companies, including technology transfer, during over a decade at one of the largest IP firms in Scandinavia.
Ylva has been a long-term part of the team handling international relations, such as the preferred-partner program as well as been responsible for handling international clients. She was long-term member of the management and a board member.
Ylva has helped several companies through IP due diligence in successful private and public financing rounds, and in giving firms advice on license negotiations as well as acquisitions.
She has a solid understanding of the value of IP as a business tool, and clients appreciate her pragmatic approach combined with her extensive experience in handling cases before the European Patent Office and other major and minor patent jurisdictions.
Clients appreciate her commitment, including the ability to understand and communicate complicated technical and legal issues.
Recommended Individual – IAM Patent 1000 2023 Listed in IAM Strategy 300: The World’s Leading IP Strategists 2023
EDUCATION
European Patent Attorney
Authorised Patent Attorney (SE)
Ph.D. in medical research, BMC at Uppsala University, Sweden
Marianne Johansen
–
Partner
European Patent Attorney
Ph.D. Pharmaceuticals
+45 5370 0599
Marianne entered the IP profession in 1989 after having worked as an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen for several years. She has a Ph.D. degree on drug delivery systems and has a profound knowledge within life science including pharmaceutical chemistry, pharmaceutical formulation, drug delivery systems, diagnostics, biomarkers, medicine, pharmacology, biochemistry, biotechnology, stem cell technology, immunotherapy, immunology, cell therapy etc. In addition, she has a profound knowledge and experience in IP aspects within such technical fields.
Apart from the traditional IP aspects like managing IP portfolios, pre-evaluation of possible IP protection of new projects, establishment of IP rights, oppositions and appeals, litigation of IP rights etc., her focus is on the interface between IP protection and market/data exclusivity, especially within the pharmaceutical field. An important issue for her is also all strategic aspects of IPR and she has successfully advised many clients on IP strategy focused on their business strategy.
During her IP career she has held several CEO positions, but always maintained a close relationship with her clients and maintained handling the IP work for clients as she finds it a challenging task involving skills within science, language, legal matter, business and creativity.
Marianne is a high-esteemed advisor for large, medium-sized and small sized companies as well as for university-based clients, both globally and locally based. She has been head-IP advisor for several companies, involved in public offering, mergers and acquisitions, in licensing etc. as well as being involved in due diligence processes.
Besides her IP work, Marianne is an external lecturer at the University of Copenhagen and a technical judge at the Maritime and Commercial High Court as well as at Western High Court.
Managing IP – IP Stars: IP Star 2023 Recommended Individual – IAM Patent 1000 2023
EDUCATION
European Patent Attorney
European Design Attorney
Certificate European Patent Litigation Course (Centre d’Etudes Internationales de là Propriété Intellectuelle, Université de Strasbourg, France)
M.Sc. in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Copenhagen University
Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Copenhagen University Pharmaceutical Sciences, Copenhagen University
EXPERIENCE
Pharmaceuticals
Formulation of pharmaceuticals
Technological method for preparing of pharmaceutical
Nils Jakob Mørkbak
–
European Patent Attorney
M.Sc. Physics and Chemistry
+49 170 2987 190
Nils started out as a trainee in a large Danish IP firm in 1999 after finishing his degree in physics & chemistry and ended up as department manager and partner in 2008 before relocating to Germany for private reasons (yes…love) and joined aera in the spring of 2018.
As key account manager on a number of big clients, he has been orchestrating teams of patent attorneys to cover broad technological areas. Nils has assisted several large academic institutions in different countries with evaluating and prioritising their new ideas as well as their existing portfolios.
Nils understands the value of IP as a strategic tool, and clients appreciate his direct and honest approach to when to pursue patenting – and when not to. He has extensive drafting and prosecution experience and has yet to back down from a complicated invention, that being endovascular surgery, quantum computing or time travelling (honestly!).
EDUCATION
European Patent Attorney
Business Management Competence Development Program, School of Business and Social Sciences, The University of Aarhus, Denmark
M. Sc. Physics and Chemistry, The University of Aarhus, Denmark
Emil Agostini
–
European Patent Attorney
M.Sc. Physics and Nanotech
+45 2734 2008
Emil has a M.Sc. in physics and nanotechnologies from the Danish Technical University, where he worked with nanofabrication, renewable energies and catalysis studies, and entered the patent profession in early 2016 in one of Europe’s largest IP-firms.
Emil has worked with clients within the fields of software, mechanics, electronics, medtech, renewable energies, and automotive.
Clients appreciate his creative problem-solving abilities and his drive to combine technical, legal, and business knowledge to give direct and understandable advice.
Within the patent profession he has worked with drafting and prosecution of patent applications, maintained and created client relationships, trained new staff, held presentations introducing IP at new technology fairs and has been proactive within incubators and start-up programs where he has performed mentoring of start-up companies to guide them in the field of intellectual property.
Managing IP – IP Stars: Rising Star 2023
EDUCATION
EQE Pre-exam 2019
CEIPI Substantial Patent Law
DIFI Claim drafting
M.Sc. in Physics and Nanotechnologies at the Danish Technical University, Lyngby, Denmark
Mattias Salling Dahllöf
–
European Patent Attorney
M.Sc. Molecular Biomedicine
Ph.D. Metabolic Research
+45 53 762 999
Mattias entered the IP profession in 2015. After completing his M.Sc. and PhD within inflammation, diabetes, and druggable targets from the University of Copenhagen he joined a Danish private practice, and has also worked for a leading UK based IP firm before joining aera.
He works with large international clients primarily in pharma and biotechnology, as well as with universities and start-ups.
Clients appreciate his attention to details and his ability to maintain the focus on the commercial value on innovation.
EDUCATION
Certified Danish Patent Agent
CEIPI Basic Training in European Patent Law
M.Sc. in Molecular Biomedicine, University of Copenhagen
Ph.D. in Metabolic Research, University of Copenhagen
Nikolaj Joined the patent profession after being part of multiple patent processes during his Ph.D. and Post. Doc. He has a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Science from the Drug Research Academy, at the University of Copenhagen, where he worked with drug design, protein interactions and molecular neurobiology in order to study basic properties of proteins and to develop novel treatments for CNS disorders.
Having worked with inventions from the side of the inventor, Nikolaj have a great insight into the transition from basic research to value creation using inventions, helping our clients to benefit from their research ideas.
EDUCATION
Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Science, University of Copenhagen
This Privacy Policy describes how aera (“we” or “us”) processes personal data in connection with provision of our services, administrative procedures, anti-money laundering measures, courses, events and seminars, marketing, social media, and use of our website. All our processing is in accordance with our Pri¬vacy Policy and current data protection law such as the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (“GDPR”).
WE ASK YOU TO CAREFULLY READ THIS PRIVACY POLICY BEFORE YOU SHARE ANY PERSONAL DATA WITH US.
1. DATA CONTROLLER
The legal entity responsible for the processing of your personal data is:
aera a/s
Company Registration (CVR) No: 39154765
Niels Hemmingsens Gade, 10, 5th floor
1153 Copenhagen K
Denmark
2. CONTACT US
If you have any questions concerning our processing of personal data, or if you want to exercise your rights, please contact us by email:
3. WHAT IS PERSONAL DATA?
Personal Data concerning this Privacy Policy includes any information that can identify you as a specific individual such as your name and your contact details (i.e., email address and phone number).
4. SCOPE
This Privacy Policy addresses the processing of all personal data of any person in commercial contact with us, such as our clients, suppliers, business partners, prospects and its contact persons, representatives, users of any of our services or any other physical person connected to such party (“contact persons”), as well as visitors to our website. This Privacy Policy applies to all business processes in aera and to all aera websites, domains, mobile solutions, cloud services and communities as well as aera-branded websites and third-party social networks.
5. WHAT PERSONAL DATA DO WE PROCESS?
The type of data that we process about you may include but is not limited to:
a) Identity information, such as date of birth, age, nationality, gender, etc.
b) Contact information, both personal and professional, such as name, organi¬sation (company) name, registration number, VAT registration number, postal address, phone number, mobile phone number, e-mail address, fax number, etc.
c) Employment information, e.g., information regarding your employment or other relationship with the party for which you are a contact person, such as job title, role, position.
d) Information regarding the services we perform, such as case name, case description, patent, IP right or other IPR data, IPR holders, inventors.
e) Unique user information, such as login ID, username, password, security question.
f) Device information, such as IP address, language settings, browser type, browser settings, time zone, operating system, platform, screen resolution, re¬sponse time, download error.
g) Traffic and usage information regarding our external systems, such as which links you click and when, which functions you use and when, how you reached and left the service, session time, session ID, delivery notifications when we contact you.
h) Traffic and usage information regarding our website, such as which links you click and when, the address of the website from which you arrived.
i) Geographic information, your geographical location.
6. ON WHICH BASIS DO WE OVERALL COLLECT DATA ABOUT YOU?
In general, we rely on the following legal grounds to process your data:
a) Performance of a contract – when we enter into a contract with you
b) To comply with legal obligations
c) Consent – where appropriate, for instance within marketing
d) Legitimate interest after balancing your interests and rights
The above lawful grounds imply that we may use your personal data to facilitate the provision of our professional services, including client services, conflicts checking, bill¬ing and marketing. We may need to disclose your personal data to authorities or as otherwise required by law or court order. The legal grounds are further specified here¬under in the section Description of Processing.
7. YOUR RIGHTS
You have the following rights:
a) You are entitled to request access to, rectification or erasure of your personal data.
b) You are entitled to oppose the processing of your personal data and to request restriction of the processing of your personal data.
c) You have a right to oppose the processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes.
d) If the processing of your personal data is based on your consent, you are en¬titled to revoke such consent. Revocation of your consent will not affect the lawfulness of the processing carried out prior to your revocation of consent. If you withdraw your consent, the processing of your personal data will cease and the data will be erased, unless there are objective grounds for their con¬tinued retention, e.g., documentation purposes.
e) You are entitled to receive personal data which you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format (data portability) or to have it transmitted to another controller.
f) You can always lodge a complaint with a data protection authority, for example the Danish Data Protection Agency.
See the Danish Data Protection Agency’s guidance on the rights of data subjects for more about your rights here (in Danish).
Depending on the circumstances of the processing the rights may be subject to restrictions or conditions.
To exercise your rights please contact us using the above contact information.
8. DESCRIPTION OF PROCCESSING
Your personal data will normally and overall be used by aera for purposes such as:
Provision of our legal and consultancy services
Client relations
Compliance with anti-money laundering legislation and legislation against the financing of terrorism
Courses, seminars, and events
Marketing
Social Media
Digital Publications
Use of our website and cookies
We describe further the purposes for which we process personal data below.
8.1 Provision of our services
In connection with our provision of services to a client, we always create a case file in our management system. One or several parties who are involved in the matter in different ways will be named as contacts. If you are such a person, we will process personal data about you, regardless of whether you are part of the client’s organisation or are associated with the other party.
We will use the personal data to communicate with you, handle the case and to make any registrations in authorities’ electronic service systems. Hereunder plan, organize, lead, perform and follow up on our assignments and services in in order to e.g., assign cases and assignments, administer services, perform control of conflict of interest, administer and allocate client responsibility and case responsibility, create client teams as well as perform timekeeping and bill¬ing.
We will process basic personal data about you, including contact details such as name, company, title or position, email address, telephone, address, and your place of employment. If we are to make registrations in public authorities’ data¬bases we may, in order to be able to identify you, have to process some of your personal data, including your personal iden-tification number.
Personal data are in general provided by our clients, counterparts or third parties.
We will process your personal data based on Article 6(1)(b) of the General Data Protection Regulation if you as a client is a person, as processing is necessary for the entering into or performance of a contract with our client about the provi¬sion of legal or consultancy services. If you are a counterparty, data will be pro¬cessed based on Article 6(1)(f) on the balancing of legitimate interests where the legitimate interest is enforcement and defence of the legal claim. In case of sensitive personal data or personal identification numbers, processing will be carried out based on Article 9(2)(f) on enforcement or defence of legal claims.
If it becomes necessary to make official registrations, we may share your per¬sonal data with certain public authorities through the data registration portals of such authorities, such as, but not limited to, the European Union Intellectual Property Office and the Danish Business Authority.
We will keep your personal data as long as they are necessary for the purpose or purposes for which they are being processed. As a general rule, data will be kept for 5 years following the conclusion of a case but under special circum¬stances such periods may be shorter or longer, including for the purpose of com¬plying with legal requirements for the erasure or keeping of data. If our provision of services is denied the personal data will be deleted immediately hereafter.
8.2 Client Relations
aera will process personal data about you for the purposes of establishing or cultivating our client relationship, business partnerships, networks, etc. as well as adding of matters in our internal practice management system, hereunder invoicing, payments, and other financial follow ups.
Regarding the types of personal data, aera may collect name, company, ad¬dress, title, email address, telephone number, financial information, network in which the contact was established (if applicable), and, in certain cases, birthday and anniversaries, etc. In addition, we may process information as well as name, address, company, title, and email address of counterparties, if relevant.
Typically, we will process data of this sort only if you choose to provide them to us voluntarily, e.g., as part of your email auto signature, on your business card, etc. We may also collect personal data about you from other sources – e.g., publicly accessible sources such as your employer’s website, LinkedIn.com, CVR.dk, BIQ.dk, etc. In our marketing of events, etc., we may also use client lists of our existing clients and event lists of our network relationships. We will in that connection process company names from our client system and event lists and any data you may have shared on your LinkedIn profile such as indus¬try, position, geographical location, and seniority.
The purpose of our collecting, using, and retaining the data is to e.g., cultivate, nurture, and maintain our relationship with you and your business. We will also use the data in our marketing and in our advertising of events and other activi¬ties. In addition, aera will process data for the purpose of establishing a client relationship and designating the relevant point of contact in the company, or the individual concerned, including for the purpose of matter and contract manage¬ment as well as invoicing. In addition, we will process data about counterparties, if relevant, in order to check for conflicts.
The legal basis is the contract between aera and our client (please see Article 6(1)(b) of the General Data Protection Regulation) and aera’s legitimate inter¬ests, including the establishing and maintenance of client relationships, matter and contract management, and timely and accurate invoicing, (please see Arti¬cle 6(1)(f) of the General Data Protection Regulation).
Regarding retention, the personal data will be kept as long as they are relevant and for an additional period of 5 years, except where special cir-cumstances require a shorter or longer retention period in accordance with relevant legislation.
aera will not disclose your personal data to third parties, except where we are legally required to do so, e.g., in case of disclosure to public authorities or your employer. In connection with our targeted advertising of events, etc., we will only disclose company names on LinkedIn.
8.3 Courses, seminars, and events
When you attend one of our courses, seminars, or events, we may use your personal data to keep in touch with you before, during and after the event in question. We may e.g., register and use the information to run our events, here¬under confirm your registration, prepare name badges, and forward material from events.
For the purposes of a course, seminar, or event we will only process basic per¬sonal data, including name, company or your place of employment, title or posi¬tion, email address, address, and telephone.
We obtain the personal data we process from yourself or from your employer, if your employer has registered you for a course, seminar, or event.
If you are a party to a contract with us, we will process your personal data as described above based on Article 6(1)(b), as the data are necessary for per¬forming a contract to which you are a party. The personal data may also be processed based on Article 6(1)(f) where the legitimate interest is to administer seminars and send out evaluation forms etc.
We will keep your personal data as long as they are necessary for the purposes of the course, seminar or event in question and for the evaluation of such course, seminar or event. A course, or the like, may be one of a number of re¬lated activities described in advance. In such situations we will keep your per¬sonal data until the entire process or activities have been completed and evalu¬ated. If you are employed by one of our clients, we will keep your data as long as we have a business relationship with the client in question. In case of an event that is subject to an attendance fee, we will keep invoicing data during the relevant financial year plus five years, as laid down in the Danish Bookkeeping Act.
We will not disclose personal information about you to any third party except where necessary for the running of the event. In certain circumstances, there¬fore, your contact details may be shared with external co-organizers and pay¬ment providers for processing on aera’s behalf. Such third parties are not al¬lowed to use the data for their own purposes.
8.4 Marketing
We will use your personal data for the purposes of marketing, hereunder for the purposes of being able to target communication specifically to you. Targeted communication includes newsletters and invitations.
We will only use basic personal data, such as name, title or position, email ad¬dress, telephone and your place of employment. We will also register the lan¬guage in which you wish to receive such material.
The personal data we use are provided by you or are collected from publicly accessible sources. The information may also be obtained through your use of our website.
The legal basis for our data processing is the rule on balancing of legitimate interests (please see Article 6(1)(f)). The legitimate interests pursued are our interest in carrying out marketing activities and our interest in targeting the ma¬terial we send out. We will not disclose your personal data to third parties.
aera may use third party service providers for circulation of newsletters and in¬vitations. Such third parties will act solely on our behalf and upon our instructions and are not allowed to use the information for their own purposes.
If you have registered for our newsletter option, we will keep your personal data for as long as you wish to receive material from us and for an additional two years. If we have collected publicly accessible information about you for the purpose of being able to carry out marketing activities, we will keep such data for as long as the rele¬vant activity is ongoing and for an additional two years. Personal data provided when sub¬scribing for newsletters and invitations to events will be erased when you un¬subscribe. You may unsubscribe from newsletters at any time, using the “un¬subscribe” link at the bottom of the newsletter or by mailing us at .
8.5 Social Media
The types of personal data which is collected includes but is not limited to your IP address and the information made available by you on e.g. LinkedIn and Facebook via your set¬tings, your response to content posted by us, your sharing of such consent, and any comments on our content.
The purposes for the collection of such personal data is image branding and marketing of aera and recruitment.
So-called “social media plugins” on our websites provides us with information about the number of visitors on the websites in response to social media adver¬tisements.
The legal basis for the processing of your personal data is aera’s legitimate in¬terests in making content available on social media to users who follow aera, in branding aera’s image and in marketing aera in accordance with Article 6(1)(f) of the General Data Protection Regulation.
Regarding erasure, the data will be erased when the content is deleted or when you withdraw your response to our content (likes, sharing etc.). Your IP address collected and processed for statistical and marketing purposes through the use of cookies will be stored for up to 14 months after the cookie was stored onto visitor hard drives.
Regarding cookies, when you visit our social media sites on e.g., LinkedIn or our websites such as www.aera-ip.com where social media plugins have been installed, our social media service providers collect and process your personal data using cookies, subject to your consent to the service provider, as applica¬ble. Such collection and processing take place even if you have no account on the social media.
When you visit our social media sites such as on LinkedIn/ Facebook, aera re¬ceives anonymous demographic and geographic statistics from e.g., LinkedIn/Facebook on the visitors on our website www.aera-ip.com and/or our LinkedIn/Facebook site. It happens via LinkedIn/ Facebook plugins (“LinkedIn Insight Tag” and ”Facebook Pixel”).
aera is a joint data controller with our social media providers for personal data collected and processed in connection with your visit to our social media sites and our website. It means, among other things, that you may contact both aera and the social media providers to exercise your rights under the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act.
LinkedIn and Facebook have primary responsibility for ensuring compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation and responding to requests from visitors on LinkedIn and Facebook. If you are registered as user of LinkedIn/ Facebook, you may exercise your rights via your account settings on LinkedIn and Face¬book. Read more about LinkedIn’s and Facebook’s processing of personal data and use of cookies and analytical tools here:
https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy
www.facebook.com/policy
We refer in addition to our section about cookies below and to our Cookie Pol¬icy which can be found here.
8.6 Digital Publications
In regard to digital publications, we collect your IP address.
The purpose is to make our digital publications more interactive and improve your reader experience when we share publications on our website.
The legal basis for the processing of your IP address is aera’s legitimate interest in making our publications more reader-friendly and interactive in accordance with Ar¬ticle 6(1)(f) of the General Data Protection Regulation.
Regarding storage period, your IP address collected and processed for statisti¬cal purposes through the use of cookies will be stored for up to 14 months after the cookie was stored onto visitor hard drives.
8.7 Use of our website and cookies
When you use our website, personal data may be collected in order to send you alerts, reports or messages by email or the like, to detect and prevent security threats, to perform maintenance and debugging, to prevent abuse of our ser¬vices, to ensure content is presented effectively to you and your device, as well as troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research and or for statistical pur¬poses.
The personal data may include your identity information, contact information, employment information, unique user information, device information, traffic and usage information regarding our external systems and websites as well as geo¬graphic information.
This use is based on Article 6(1)(f) of the General Data Protection Regulation, where the legitimate interest is to provide you with a website that works optimally, hereunder to improve the quality of our services and the web¬sites we provide.
The retention period is our contractual relationship period, or 26 months from collecting the information.
When you use our website, cookies are used to collect personal data about your behaviour. This use is based on Article 6(1)(f) of the General Data Protection Regulation, where the legitimate interest is to provide you with an interesting website that works optimally. The cookies include various social media plugins, which makes it easier for you to share content from our website, LinkedIn etc. We and the provider of third-party cookies may act as joint data controllers. You may read more about this and locate a link to the privacy policies of third-party providers in the cookie overview, which may be accessed through our Cookie Policy. We process your personal data in connection with your use of our web¬site as described above and as further described in our Cookie Policy. You may withdraw or change your consent by rejecting cookies in the cookie overview or by blocking cookies in your web browser. You can read more about cookies in our Cookie Policy here.
9. RECIPIENTS
We will treat the data as confidential, and we will generally not disclose the data to third parties. Data may, however, be disclosed to authorities, courts, specific clients, and or counterparties, e.g., if required to do so by law or court order, in connection with ongoing or prospective legal proceedings, or in order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights (including the provision of information to others for the purposes of fraud prevention and reduction of credit risk).
In addition, we may need to share your personal data within aera and its subsidi¬aries. The original lawful grounds and purposes listed above and hereunder will remain the same. We shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that transferred information is kept secure in accordance with applicable law.
The data may be passed on to external suppliers, including insurers, professional ad¬visers, agents, suppliers, subcontractors, business partners and IT service providers working with or for us, in so far as reasonably necessary for the purposes set out in this policy.
Furthermore, if we buy or sell a business or assets, we may provide potential sellers or buyers of such business or assets with your personal data. If we, or a substantial part of our assets, are acquired by a third party, your personal data may be disclosed to such acquirer.
Regarding transfer of personal data to countries outside the EU/EEA, the data will not be transferred to countries outside the EU/EEA unless such transfer is made to a spe¬cific authority, court, client, counterparty, or the like. In such case, the transfers will made based on Article 49(1)(b)-(e) of the General Data Protection Regulation. Trans¬fer of personal data to a country outside the EU/EEA (a third country) that is considered to provide an adequate level of protection does not require a specific authorization. Personal data can without further measures be transferred to such third countries. Transfer to so-called “unsafe” third countries may be carried out based on a variety of appropriate safeguards that have been established to provide an adequate level of protection of the data subjects’ rights. Where no appropriate safeguards are provided, transfer of personal data to “unsafe” third countries may take place based on specific legal basis for the transfer. The transfer can, without the listing being exhausting, take place based on consent, for the perfor¬mance of a contract with a company established in such third country and if necessary, in relation to legal claims. The specific legal bases are stated in article 49(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation.
By submitting your personal data to aera, you agree that you do not object to any such transfer, processing, or storage.
10. MANDATORY PROVISION OF INFORMATION
If we are to make registrations on your behalf in public databases, we must be able to uniquely identify you to the relevant authority. We may therefore need your personal identification number in order to provide our services to you.
If we are to supply a service to you that is subject to the Danish Act on Measures to Prevent Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism it is necessary for us to have copies of documents that uniquely identify you.
11. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
This Privacy Policy may be changed or updated at any time and in due course to com¬ply with further requirements under applicable law. This Privacy Policy was last re¬viewed on 20 September 2023.
12. COMPLAINTS
You have the right to file a complaint with the Danish Data Protection Agency about aera’s processing of your personal data.
You can find the contact information of the Danish Data Protection Agency on www.datatilsynet.dk
This site is owned by aera A/S, and is for commercial and informational purposes only. The content is not intended as legal advice, and it should not be used as such.
aera A/S will at all times do its utmost to keep this site fully updated. However, aera A/S disclaims any direct or indirect damage resulting from entering this site, or using the information contained in the site.
Material from this site can only be reproduced, distributed, or otherwise made public with prior permission from aera A/S.
