{"id":1482,"date":"2023-10-17T19:05:32","date_gmt":"2023-10-17T17:05:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bauer.legal\/company-law\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T09:49:40","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T07:49:40","slug":"company-law","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bauer.legal\/en\/company-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooperation and company law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Working together.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Anyone who works with others needs clarity: who contributes what, who owns the results, how decisions are made and how to part ways again. This applies to a cooperation between two companies as much as to a consortium, an alliance or your own company. I structure such cooperations, accompany them and help when conflicts arise within them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Today, cooperation often takes place across sites, organisations and borders, synchronously as well as asynchronously. Contracts that reflect this from the outset save friction later: clear responsibilities, agreed handling of data, software and results, and agreed routes for decisions and for disputes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:1.5rem\">Topics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Cooperation between companies<\/strong> \u2013 cooperation agreements, working groups, joint ventures and project companies, development and distribution partnerships.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>Consortia and research cooperation<\/strong> \u2013 consortium agreements for funded projects, cooperation with universities, rights in results.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>Data and platform cooperation<\/strong> \u2013 shared use of data, data spaces, obligations under the Data Act.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>Alliances and mergers<\/strong> \u2013 shared administration, IT alliances, mergers, including non-profit organisations.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>Articles of association<\/strong> \u2013 choice of legal form, the reformed German partnership (GbR), GmbH and UG, associations, cooperatives, steward ownership.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>Shareholders and management<\/strong> \u2013 shareholder agreements, investors, employee participation, entry and exit, managing directors\u2019 contracts and liability.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>Conflicts in cooperation<\/strong> \u2013 deadlock, shareholder disputes, separation; also by way of <a href=\"https:\/\/bauer.legal\/en\/business-mediation-online\/\">business mediation online<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/bauer.legal\/en\/commercial-arbitration-online\/\">arbitration online<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>Succession and share purchases<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:1.5rem\">Typical issues<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">The questions often concern<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>who owns the results, software and data of a cooperation,<\/li>\n\n\n<li>how decisions are made when the partners disagree,<\/li>\n\n\n<li>how a partner can exit and what then happens to shared rights,<\/li>\n\n\n<li>whether a cooperation already amounts to a partnership and who is liable,<\/li>\n\n\n<li>which legal form suits a project,<\/li>\n\n\n<li>how a dispute between shareholders or partners can be resolved.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:1.5rem\">Getting started<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Send me the cooperation agreement or articles of association, if any, and a short description by email. Where resolutions are to be challenged, short deadlines often apply; please get in touch as early as possible. You can write to me in English or German. Procedure and fees, including for the initial contact, are set out under <a href=\"https:\/\/bauer.legal\/en\/how-we-work-together\/\">How we work together<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Related services: <a href=\"https:\/\/bauer.legal\/en\/information-technology-law-it-law\/\">IT law<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/bauer.legal\/en\/intellectual-property\/\">Intellectual property<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/bauer.legal\/en\/general-civil-and-commercial-law\/\">General civil and commercial law<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/bauer.legal\/en\/business-mediation-online\/\">Business mediation online<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/bauer.legal\/en\/commercial-arbitration-online\/\">Commercial arbitration online<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Working together. Anyone who works with others needs clarity: who contributes what, who owns the results, how decisions are made and how to part ways again. This applies to a cooperation between two companies as much as to a consortium, an alliance or your own company. I structure such cooperations, accompany them and help when&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/bauer.legal\/en\/company-law\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Cooperation and company law<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":"","_genesis_title":"Cooperation and company law: cooperation agreements, consortia, alliances","_genesis_description":"Cooperation between companies, consortia, data and platform cooperation, alliances including non-profit organisations, articles of association and dispute resolution under German law.","_tsf_title_no_blogname":0,"_genesis_noindex":0},"class_list":["post-1482","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bauer.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bauer.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bauer.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bauer.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bauer.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1482"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/bauer.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3421,"href":"https:\/\/bauer.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1482\/revisions\/3421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bauer.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}