German Patent and Trade Mark Office
Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt | |
Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection | |
Staff | 2600 |
---|---|
Website | www |
Formerly called | Kaiserliches Patentamt Reichspatentamt Deutsches Patentamt |
The German Patent and Trade Mark Office (
Function and status
The DPMA is the central authority in the field of intellectual property protection in Germany. Its responsibilities include the granting of patents for the registration of industrial designs, trademarks and designs, as well as for informing the public about existing industrial property rights. Recognised partner of the DPMA is the Patentinformationszentrum (Patent Information Centre), united in the Deutscher Patentinformationszentren e.V (German Patent Information Centres Association).
The legal basis of the German Patent and Trademark Office is § 26 of the
History
The first unified Patentgesetz (German Patent Act) was adopted on 25 May 1877, which mandated the establishment of an authority tasked with reviewing and awarding patents. On this basis, on 1 July 1877, the Kaiserliche Patentamt (Imperial Patent Office) was founded in Berlin.[2]
The Chairman of the newly established office was Karl Rudolf Jacobi.[3] The first German patent was granted on 1 July 1877 for a "method for producing a red ultramarine colour", invented by Johannes Zeltner.[4] The first trademark registration was on 16 October 1894 for a Berlin lamp producer.
In 1905, the Patent Office moved into premises designed by the architects Solf and Wichards on the corner of Gitschiner Straße and Lindenstraße in Kreuzberg, with a characteristic 243-metre front on the elevated highway.[5][6]
In 1919, the Patent Office was renamed the Reichspatentamt (State Patent Office).
The
In 1938, the “
The Reich Patent Office came under Nazi political party pressure as well. One of
In the last months of the war, many of the technical records of the German Patent Office were widely dispersed throughout Germany to preserve them from the Allied firebombing of Berlin. “One set of copies of the pending 180,000 patent applications were taken into eastern Germany where they were later lost by fire. The technical library of 300,000 volumes and the records of the secret patents were moved to Heringen, near Kassel, and 3,000 valuable reference books were sent through Czechoslovakia to Bavaria. Part of the Trademark records were moved to another building in Berlin where they were lost also by fire. Some of the technical personnel remained at the Patent Office in Berlin, some went to Heringen and others were scattered throughout Germany. The Patent Office building in Berlin was about one-third destroyed by a heavy bombing attack on 5 February 1945. US and British representatives reached Heringen in May 1945 and found some 50 former patent employees at work restoring and re-classifying the patent indexes and examination material. The library and the register of secret patents were located in a potash mine in Heringen. However, the files of the secret applications and patents had been burned upon orders of the German government shortly before the arrival of the US troops… The technical library has been moved from the potash mine in Heringen and is again available to the public. The library is equipped with 12 miles of new metal shelves which provide space for about 500,000 volumes.”[10]
Other attempts to preserve German patents was the re-registration of the patents in other countries. In 1945, it was noted that: “Patents Transferred. That Germany is preparing in other ways to salve what she can is indicated by reports that the flight of capital on a large scale is taking place from Germany to Sweden through the transfer of German patents. The
After the
On 1 October 1949, the Deutsches Patentamt (German Patent Office) moved to premises in the Deutsches Museum in Munich. In 1951 a branch office was opening in the old Reichspatentamt in Berlin. 1959, the Patent Office moved into its own building in Munich.
In 1990, the Office for Amt für Erfindungs- und Patentwesen der DDR (Inventions and Patent Office of the GDR) merged with the Patent Office.
In 1998, an office in Jena was built and the bulk of the Berlin office moved there. The Office has thus now has three locations, Munich, Jena and Berlin. In the same year was a renaming of Deutsche Patentamt to Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt (DPMA), in order to take the importance of brands as a working area of the office into account.[13]
Originally appeals against decisions of the Office were conducted by the internally, however, since 1961 this is done in the
Since 1978 and the entry into force of the European Patent Convention, the European Patent Office also issues patents effective in Germany, as part of a European patent's "bundle" of national patents.
Name | Dates of Presidency |
---|---|
... | ... |
Kurt Haertel | 1963 – 1975[14] |
Erich Häusser | 1976 – 1995[15] |
Norbert Haugg | 1995 – 2000[16] |
Jürgen Schade | 2001 – December 31, 2008[17] |
Cornelia Rudloff-Schäffer | January 1, 2009 – January 2023[17][18][19][20] |
Eva Schewior | February 2023 –[18][19][20] |
Patent applicants
In 2006, the leaders in terms of numbers of patents at the DPMA were
Inventors gallery
In 1984, the DPMA opened an "inventor's gallery", as "an incentive for all innovative forces to express themselves more, and a signal to the insurance companies to promote them long term." It was enlarged in 1987 and again in 1999 and now covers 17 German inventors:[22] Béla Barényi, Gerd Binnig, Ludwig Bölkow, Walter Bruch, Jürgen Dethloff, Artur Fischer, Rudolf Hell, Heinz Lindenmeier, Hermann Oberth,
See also
- Bundespatentgericht
- Gebrauchsmuster
- Geschmacksmuster
- German Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (GRUR e. V.)
- German patent law
- Ralf Sieckmann v Deutsches Patent und Markenamt
References
- ^ (in German) Durch den Tunnel, Der Spiegel 47/1978, pp. 116-118.
- ^ Reichspatentamt, ed. (1927). Das Reichspatentamt 1877-1927: Rückblick auf sein Werden und Wirken. Berlin: Heymann. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
- ^ "Das Reichs-Patentamt". Provinzial-Correspondenz. 15 (28): 2. 1877-07-11. Archived from the original on 2007-10-28. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
- ^ DE patent 1, Johannes Zeltner, "Verfahren zur Herstellung einer rothen Ultramarinfarbe", issued 1877-07-01, assigned to Nurnberger Ultramarin-Fabrik
- ^ Otto Sarrazin und Friedrich Schultze, ed. (1905-09-30). "Das neue Dienstgebäude für das Kaiserliche Patentamt in Berlin". Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung. XXV (79): 489–492.
- ^ Otto Sarrazin und Friedrich Schultze, ed. (1905-10-30). "Das neue Dienstgebäude für das Kaiserliche Patentamt in Berlin (Schluß)". Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung. XXV (80): 497–499.
- ^ Law relating to the admission to the profession of patent agent and lawyer. Gist of the law: Excluding Jews from acting as patent attorneys. Document Number: 2868-PS. Date: 22 April 1933. Reichsgesetzblatt-Page: I.217. Signed by: Hitler, Guertner.
- ^ Max Eichler. Du bist sofort im Bilde (Erfurt: J. G. Cramer's Verlag, 1939) pp. 139-142.
- ^ Heather Anne Pringle. 2006. The Master Plan: Himmler’s Scholars and the Holocaust. Page 140.
- ^ Billings, Victor L. 1950. “Patent System Re-Established for Germany.” Journal of the Patent and Trademark Office Society. Volume 32, pages 498-499, 502.
- ^ MacCormac, John. 1945. “Unscorched Earth Marks Nazis’ Wake: Valuable Industrial Patents in Good Order are Laid to Plan for Third War.” The New York Times. March 10, 1945. Page 3.
- ^ Kontrollratsgesetz Nr. 5
- ^ Geschichtliches auf den Seiten des DPMA
- ^ (in German) Munich's official internet site, Straßenneubenennung Kurt-Haertel-Passage. Consulted on January 28, 2007.
- ^ "DPMA | 1971-1985". Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt.
- ^ "DPMA | 1986-2000". Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt.
- ^ a b (in German) Bundesministerium der Justiz (Federal Ministry of Justice, Germany), Amtsübergabe beim DPMA: Rudloff-Schäffer folgt auf Schade, Press release, Berlin, January 15, 2009. Consulted on January 17, 2009.
- ^ a b "Eva Schewior wird neue Präsidentin des Deutschen Patent- und Markenamts" [Eva Schewior becomes new President of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office]. Bundesministerium der Justiz (in German). Bundesministerium der Justiz. 10 January 2023. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
- ^ a b "Important notice of 10 January 2023 - Eva Schewior to become new President of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office". Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt. DPMA. 10 January 2023. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
- ^ a b "DPMA bekommt neue Präsidentin" [DPMA gets new president]. beck-aktuell (in German). C.H.Beck. 11 January 2023. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
- ^ DNHK Markt. 2/2007, S. 22.
- ^ "Die Erfindergalerie des Deutschen Patent- und Markenamts".
External links
- (in German) Official page
- (in German and English) DPMA annual reports - up to 2005 (German: Jahresberichte)