Patents

Technical inventions which are new and involve an inventive step and which can be used commercially, can be protected by a patent.

Terms of protection

The invention must neither be published by the inventor nor by any third party before the filing date or the priority date of the patent application (“novelty”). Therefore, it is recommended to check before making the invention public – a verbal notification to any person who is not obliged to secrecy is already regarded as a publication – if the invention should be legally protected.

The invention must be based on an inventive step.

German patent

Filing procedure

A German patent application has to be filed with the German Patent and Trademark Office. The day on which the application has been submitted is called the filing date. Unless a so-called priority has been claimed, the filing date will be the key date for the valid prior art referred to when examining the novelty and the inventive step.

Upon request a patent application will be substantively examined by the German Patent and Trademark Office. Generally, the examination is carried out either in a verbal and / or written manner between the responsible Examiner of the German Patent and Trademark Office and the Applicant or his authorized patent attorney to discuss the patentability of the invention.

European patent

Filing procedure

A European patent application has to be filed with the European Patent Office. The day on which the application has been submitted is called the filing date. Unless a so-called priority has been claimed, the filing date will be the key date for the valid prior art referred to when examining the novelty and the inventive step.

Upon request, a patent application will be examined by the European Patent Office. Generally, the examination is carried out either in a verbal and / or written manner between the responsible Examiner of the European Patent Office and the Applicant or his authorized patent attorney (Professional representative) to discuss the patentability of the invention.

Terms of protection

At the end of the examination procedure, after granting the European Patent, the European Patent has to be nationalised, which means that the European Patent comes into effect in all countries designated by the applicant. At present a maximum of 38 countries (Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Monaco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia (Republic of), Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland/Liechtenstein, Spain, The Netherlands, Turkey and United Kingdom) may be designated by the applicant.

International or PCT patent application

Filing procedure

We usually file International Patent Applications (PCT-Application, Patent Cooperation Treaty) with the European Patent Office. Unless a priority is claimed, the filing date is the key date for the examination of the novelty and the inventive step against the prior art.

On request an International Patent Application is submitted to a so-called international preliminary examination, which is carried out by the European Patent Office. Beforehand a search for the prior art is carried out. The examination is performed to discuss the patentability of the invention between the examiner in charge and the applicant or the patent attorney appointed as representative.

At the end of the international preliminary examination procedure an international preliminary examination report follows. 30/31 months after the filing date or priority date at the latest, the International Application has to be nationalised or regionalized. This means that the application will be passed on to the Patent Offices of the designated countries or designated groups of countries (e.g. Europe , U.S.A., Japan, etc.). The PCT now has 152 Contracting States.

Then the national or regional patent grant procedure follows at the end of which the national or regional granting of the patent takes place.

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Contracting States of the PCT