Part I:The Patent     1-25

Part II:The Patent Office     26-33

Part III:Procedure Before the Patent Office     34-64

Part IV:The Patent Court     65-72

Part V:Proceedings Before the Patent Court

1.Proceedings on Appeal     73-80

2.Nullity and Compulsory License Proceedings     81-85

3.Common Rules of Procedure     86-99

Part VI:Proceedings Before the Federal Court of Justice

1.Procedure in Respect of Appeals on Points of Law     100-109

2.Procedure on Appeal     110-121

3.Special Procedure on Appeal     122

Part VII:Common Provisions     123-128

Part VIII:Legal Aid     129-138

Part IX:Infringement     139-142a

Part X:Procedure in Patent Litigation     143-145

Part XI:Advertising of Patent     146

1.—(1) Patents shall be granted for inventions that are new, involve an inventive step and are susceptible of industrial application.

(2) The following in particular shall not be regarded as inventions within the meaning of subsection (1):

1.     discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods;

2.     aesthetic creations;

3.     schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts, playing games or doing business and programs for computers;

4.     presentations of information.

(3) The provisions of subsection (2) shall exclude patentability only to the extent to which protection is sought for the above-mentioned subject matter or activities as such.

2. Patents shall not be granted in respect of:

1.     inventions the publication or exploitation of which would be contrary to public policy or morality, provided that the exploitation shall not be deemed to be so contrary merely because it is prohibited by law or regulation. The first sentence above shall not exclude the granting of a patent for an invention falling under Section 50(1);

2.     plant or animal varieties or essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals. This provision shall not apply to microbiological processes or the products thereof.

[Amended by Law of March 27, 1992]

3.—(1) An invention shall be considered to be new if it does not form part of the state of the art. The state of the art comprises all knowledge made available to the public by means of a written or oral description, by use or in any other way, before the date relevant for the priority of the application.

(2) Additionally, the content of the following patent applications, which have an earlier priority and which were published only on or after the date relevant for the priority of the later application, shall be considered to be comprised in the state of the art:

1.     national applications, as originally filed with the German Patent Office;

2.     European applications, as originally filed with the competent authority, in which protection is sought in the Federal Republic of Germany and for which the designation fee for the Federal Republic of Germany has been paid in accordance with Article 79(2) of the European Patent Convention, unless the application for a European patent is based on an international application and does not fulfill the conditions set out in Article 158(2) of the European Patent Convention;

3.     international applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, as originally filed with the receiving Office, where the German Patent Office is the designated Office with respect to the application.

If the earlier priority of an application is based on a claim to the priority of an earlier application, the first sentence of the present subsection shall be applicable only to the extent that the contents of the application in question do not go beyond the contents of the earlier application. Patent applications under item 1 of the first sentence of the present subsection which have been subject to a decision under Section 50(1) or (4) of the Patent Law shall be considered to have been made available to the public on expiry of the 18^th month following their filing.

(3) The provisions of subsections (1) and (2) shall not exclude from patentability any substance or composition comprised in the state of the art where it is intended for use in a method referred to in Section 5(2) and its use for such method is not comprised in the state of the art.

(4) For the application of subsections (1) and (2), disclosure of the invention shall not be taken into consideration if it occurred no earlier than six months preceding the filing of the application and if it was due to or in consequence of

1.     an evident abuse in relation to the applicant or his legal predecessor or

2.     the fact that the applicant or his legal predecessor has displayed the invention at an official or officially recognized international exhibition falling within the terms of the Convention on International Exhibitions signed at Paris on November 22, 1928.

Item 2 of the first sentence of the present subsecction shall apply only if the applicant states, when filing the application, that the invention has been so displayed and files a supporting certificate within four months following the filing. The exhibitions referred to in item 2 of the first sentence of the present subsection shall be notified by the Federal Minister for Justice in the Federal Law Gazette [Bundesgesetzblatt].

[Amended by Law of July 16, 1998]

4. An invention shall be considered to involve an inventive step if, having regard to the state of the art, it is not obvious to a person skilled in the art. If the state of the art also includes documents within the meaning of Section 3(2), these documents shall not be considered in deciding whether there has been an inventive step.

5.—(1) An invention shall be considered susceptible of industrial application if it can be made or used in any kind of industry, including agriculture.

(2) Methods for treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy and diagnostic methods practiced on the human or animal body shall not be regarded as inventions which are susceptible of industrial application within the meaning of subsection (1). This provision shall not apply to products, in particular substances or compositions, for use in any of these methods.

6. The right to a patent shall belong to the inventor or his successor in title. If two or more persons have jointly made an invention, the right to a patent shall belong to them jointly. If two or more persons have made an invention independently of each other, the right shall belong to the person who is the first to file an application with the Patent Office.

7.—(1) To avoid the substantive examination of the patent application being delayed due to the need to determine the identity of the inventor, the applicant shall be deemed in the proceedings before the Patent Office to be entitled to request grant of a patent.

(2) If a patent is revoked by reason of opposition based on usurpation (Section 21(1)3) or if opposition results in the withdrawal of the patent, the opponent may himself file an application in respect of the invention, within one month after the official notification thereof, and claim the priority of the earlier patent.

8. An entitled person whose invention has been applied for by a person not so entitled may require the patent applicant to surrender to him the right to the grant of a patent. If the application has already resulted in a patent, he may require the patentee to assign the patent to him. Such right may only be asserted by an action at law within two years after publication of the grant of the patent (Section 58(1)), subject to the fourth and fifth sentences. If the injured person has filed opposition on the grounds of usurpation (Section 21(1)3), he may bring an action within one year of the final conclusion of the opposition proceedings. The third and fourth sentences shall not apply if the patentee had not acted in good faith in obtaining the patent.

9. A patent shall have the effect that the patentee alone shall be authorized to use the patented invention. A person not having the consent of the patentee shall be prohibited

1.     from making, offering, putting on the market or using a product which is the subject matter of the patent or importing or stocking the product for such purposes;

2.     from using a process which is the subject matter of the patent or, when he knows or it is obvious from the circumstances that the use of the process is prohibited without the consent of the patentee, from offering the process for use within the territory to which this Law applies;

3.     from offering, putting on the market, using or importing or stocking for such purposes the product obtained directly by a process which is the subject matter of the patent.

10.—(1) A patent shall have the further effect that a person not having the consent of the patentee shall be prohibited from supplying or offering to supply within the territory to which this Law applies a person, other than a person entitled to exploit the patented invention, with means relating to an essential element of such invention for exploiting the invention, where such person knows or it is obvious from the circumstances that such means are suitable and intended for exploiting the invention.

(2) Subsection (1) shall not apply when the means are staple commercial products, except where such person induces the person supplied to commit acts prohibited by the second sentence of Section 9.

(3) Persons performing the acts referred to in Section 11.1 to 3 shall not be considered persons entitled to exploit the invention within the meaning of subsection (1).

11. The effects of a patent shall not extend to

1.     acts done privately and for non-commercial purposes;

2.     acts done for experimental purposes relating to the subject matter of the patented invention;

3.     the extemporaneous preparation for individual cases in a pharmacy of a medicine in accordance with a medical prescription or acts concerning the medicine so prepared;

4.     the use on board vessels of another State party to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of the patented invention, in the body of the vessel, in the machinery, tackle, gear and other accessories, where such vessels temporarily or accidentally enter the waters to which the territory of this Law extends on condition that such use serves exclusively the needs of the vessel;

5. the use of the patented invention in the construction or operation of aircraft or land vehicles of another State party to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property or of accessories for such aircraft or land vehicles, where these temporarily or accidentally enter the territory to which this Law applies;

6. the acts specified in Article 27 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation of December 7, 1944, where such acts concern the aircraft of another State to which the provisions of that Article are applicable.

12.—(1) A patent shall have no effect against a person who, at the time of the filing of the application, had already begun to use the invention in Germany, or had made the necessary arrangements for so doing. Such person shall be entitled to use the invention for the needs of his own business in his own plant or workshops or the plant or workshops of others. This right can only be inherited or transferred together with the business. If the applicant or his predecessor in title has, before applying for a patent, disclosed the invention to other persons and reserved his rights in the event of a patent being granted, a person learning of the invention as a result of such disclosure cannot, under the provisions under the first sentence, invoke measures which he has taken within six months after the disclosure.

(2) If the patentee is entitled to a right of priority, the date of the prior application shall be substituted for the date of the application referred to in subsection (1). However, this provision shall not apply to nationals of a foreign country which does not guarantee reciprocity in this respect, where they claim the priority of a foreign application.

13.—(1) A patent shall have no effect where the Federal Government orders that the invention be exploited in the interest of public welfare. Nor shall the effect of a patent extend to any exploitation of the invention which is ordered in the interests of the security of the Federal Republic by the appropriate supreme federal authority or, on the latter’s instructions, by a subordinate agency.

(2) Appeals from orders under subsection (1) shall be heard by the Federal Administrative Court where such orders have been made by the Federal Government or the appropriate supreme federal authority.

(3) In the cases mentioned in subsection (1), the patentee shall have a claim against the Federal Republic for reasonable compensation. In the event of dispute as to its amount, legal action may be brought before the ordinary civil courts. Any order by the Federal Government under the first sentence of subsection (1) shall be communicated to the person recorded as patentee in the Register (Section 30(1)) before the invention is exploited. If the supreme federal authority by which an order or an instruction under the second sentence of subsection (1) is issued learns that a claim for compensation has arisen under the first sentence, it shall give notice thereof to the person recorded in the Register as patentee.

14. The extent of the protection conferred by a patent or a patent application shall be determined by the terms of the claims. Nevertheless, the description and drawings shall be used to interpret the claims.

15.—(1) The right to a patent, the right to the grant of a patent and the rights deriving from a patent shall pass to the heirs. They may be assigned to others with or without restrictions.

(2) The rights under subsection (1) may be licensed in whole or in part, exclusively or non-exclusively, for the whole or part of the territory to which this Law applies. Where a licensee contravenes a restriction of his license covered by the first sentence, the right conferred by the patent may be invoked against him.

(3) The assignment of rights or the granting of a license shall not affect licenses previously granted to other persons.

[Amended by Law of August 15, 1986]

16.—(1) The duration of a patent shall be 20 years, beginning on the day following the filing of the application in respect of the invention. If the purpose of an invention is the improvement or further development of another invention for which the applicant has already secured patent protection, he may apply, within 18 months from the date of filing of the application or, insofar as an earlier date is claimed as relevant for the application, from that date, for a patent of addition, which shall expire at the same time as the patent for the earlier invention.

(2) If the main patent lapses due to revocation, declaration of nullity or abandonment, the patent of addition shall become an independent patent; its duration shall be determined by the date of commencement of the main patent. Where there are several patents of addition, only the first shall become independent; the others shall be deemed patents of addition to that patent.

[Amended by Law of July 16, 1998]

16a.—(1) Pursuant to Regulations of the European Economic Community concerning the creation of supplementary certificates of protection, which shall be notified in the Federal Law Gazette, supplementary protection may be requested in respect of a patent, that shall follow on immediately from the expiry of the term of the patent under Section 16(1). Annual fees shall be paid for supplementary protection in accordance with the schedule of fees.

(2) Unless otherwise provided by the law of the European Communities, the provisions of the Patent Law concerning entitlement of the applicant (Sections 6 to 8), effects of the patent and exceptions thereto (Sections 9 to 12), order to exploit the patent, compulsory license and forfeiture (Sections 13, 24), extent of protection (Section 14), licenses and their registration (Sections 15, 30), fees (Sections 17(2) to (6), 18 and 19), lapse of the patent (Section 20), nullity (Section 22), preparedness to grant licenses (Section 23), domestic representative (Section 25), the Patent Court and proceedings before the Patent Court (Sections 65 to 99), proceedings before the Federal Court of Justice (Sections 100 to 122), reinstatement (Section 123), obligation of truth (Section 124), official language, service of documents and legal aid (Sections 126 to 128), infringement (Sections 139 to 141 and 142a), joining of actions and advertising of patent (Sections 145 and 146) shall apply mutatis mutandis to supplementary protection.

(3) Licenses and declarations under Section 23 of the Patent Law which are effective for a patent shall also apply to supplementary protection.

[Added by Law of March 23, 1993 and amended by Law of July 16, 1998]

17.—(1) There shall be paid in respect of every application and every patent an annual fee, as prescribed in the schedule of fees for the third year and each subsequent year following the date of filing.

(2) No annual fees shall be payable for a patent of addition (second sentence of Section 16(1)). If a patent of addition is converted to an independent patent, it shall become subject to the payment of fees; the due date and the annual amount shall be determined by the date of commencement of the preceding main patent. The first sentence and the first half of the second sentence shall apply mutatis mutandis to an application for a patent of addition with the proviso that, where an application for a patent of addition is regarded as an application for an independent patent, such annual fees shall be payable as are due for an application that is independent from the beginning.

(3) Annual fees in respect of the coming year shall be due on the last day of the month bearing the same name as the month containing the anniversary of the date of the application. If an annual fee has not been paid by the end of the last day of the second month after the due date, the surcharge prescribed in the schedule of fees shall become due. After the expiration of the time limit, the Patent Office shall notify the applicant or patentee that the application will be deemed to have been withdrawn (Section 58(3)) or that the patent will lapse (Section 20(1)) if the fee and the surcharge prescribed in the schedule of fees are not paid before the expiration of a period of four months from the end of the month in which the notification has been served.

(4) The Patent Office may postpone dispatch of the notification at the request of the applicant or patentee on proof being furnished by the latter that payment may not reasonably be expected of him at present due to his financial situation. Postponement may be made conditional upon payment of installments within specified periods. If an installment is not paid in due time, the Patent Office shall advise the applicant or patentee that the application will be deemed to have been withdrawn or that the patent will lapse if the balance is not paid within one month after service of the notification.

(5) Where no request has been made to postpone dispatch of the notification, the due date of the fee and the surcharge may be deferred on proof being furnished that payment may not reasonably be expected of the applicant or the patentee at present due to his financial situation, even after service of the notification, provided that a request is made within 14 days after service and the previous failure to comply is satisfactorily explained. Deferment may also be authorized subject to the payment of installments. If a deferred sum is not paid in due time, the Patent Office shall repeat the notification, whereby the whole of the balance outstanding shall be demanded. After service of the second notification, no further deferment shall be allowed.

(6) A notification which has been postponed on request (subsection (4)) or which, after deferment has been granted, must be repeated (subsection (5)) shall be dispatched not later than two years after the fee falls due. Installments paid shall not be refunded if, owing to nonpayment of the balance outstanding, the application is deemed to have been withdrawn (Section 58(3)) or the patent lapses (Section 20(1)).

[Amended by Law of July 16, 1998]

18.—(1) If an applicant or patentee furnishes proof that the payment may not reasonably be expected of him at present due to his financial situation, payment of the fees for the grant and for the third to 12th years may be deferred, at his request, until the commencement of the 13th year and may be waived if the patent application is withdrawn or the patent lapses within the first 13 years. The patent applicant or patentee shall immediately inform the Patent Office of any alteration in his personal and economic circumstances relevant to the deferral.

(2) If a patent has been granted or maintained after opposition, an order may be made in favor of an applicant that the reasonable expenses for drawings, models and expert opinions, the production of which was necessary in the grant proceedings or opposition proceedings, be refunded to him as outlay if he furnishes proof that payment of such expenses may not reasonably be expected of him at present due to his financial situation. The request for refund must be submitted to the Patent Office within six months after the grant of the patent; if opposition is brought, it must be filed within six months after the maintenance of the patent. The refund shall be recorded in the Register (Section 30(1)). If later circumstances seem so to justify, the Patent Office shall order the sum refunded to be repaid in whole or in part. Repayments shall be added as a supplement to the annual fees and treated as part thereof.

19. Annual fees may be paid before they fall due. Fees which have not become due shall be refunded if it is established that they will no longer become due.

20.—(1) A patent shall lapse if

1.     the patentee abandons it by a written declaration to the Patent Office;

2.     the declarations prescribed in Section 37(1) are not made in due time after service of the official notification (Section 37(2)); or

3.     the annual fee and the surcharge are not paid in due time after service of the official notification (Section 17(3)).

(2) The Patent Office shall be the sole judge of whether the declarations prescribed under Section 37(1) and the payments have been made in due time; Sections 73 and 100 shall remain unaffected.

21.—(1) A patent shall be revoked (Section 61) if it transpires that

1.     the subject matter of the patent is not patentable under Sections 1 to 5;

2.     the patent does not disclose the invention in a manner sufficiently clear and complete for it to be carried out by a person skilled in the art;

3.     the essential elements of the patent have been taken from the descriptions, drawings, models, appliances or equipment of another person, or from a process used by another person, without his consent (usurpation);

4.     the subject matter of the patent extends beyond the content of the application as originally filed with the competent authorities; the same shall apply if the patent was granted on a divisional application or on a new application filed in accordance with Section 7(2) and the subject matter of the patent extends beyond the content of the earlier application as originally filed with the competent authorities.

(2) If the grounds for revocation affect the patent in part only, the patent shall be maintained in the form of a corresponding limitation. The limitation may be affected in the form of an amendment to the claims, the descriptions or the drawings.

(3) In the event of revocation, the effects of the patent and of the application shall be deemed not to have existed ab initio. This provision shall apply mutatis mutandis to limited maintenance; where in such case a patent is not maintained by reason only of a division (Section 60), the effect of the application shall remain unaffected.

22.—(1) Nullity of a patent shall be declared on request (Section 81) if it transpires that one of the grounds mentioned in Section 21(1) is present or the scope of the patent has been broadened.

(2) Section 21(2) and (3), first sentence and first half of second sentence, shall apply mutatis mutandis.

23.—(1) If the applicant for a patent or the person recorded as patentee in the Register (Section 30(1)) declares to the Patent Office in writing that he is prepared to allow anyone to use the invention in return for reasonable compensation, the annual fees falling due after receipt of the declaration shall be reduced to one half of the amount prescribed in the schedule of fees. The effect of a declaration made in respect of a main patent shall extend to all its patents of addition. The declaration shall be recorded in the Register of Patents and published in the Patent Gazette [Patentblatt].

(2) Such declaration shall not be accepted if a note concerning the grant of an exclusive license (Section 30(4)) is recorded in the Register of Patents or a request for the recording of such note is pending before the Patent Office.

(3) Any person who wishes to exploit the invention after the recording of the declaration shall notify the patentee of his intention. Notification shall be deemed to have been effected if it is has been dispatched by registered mail to the person recorded in the Register as patentee or to his registered representative. A statement of how the invention is to be exploited shall be given in the notification. After such notification, the notifying party shall be entitled to exploit the invention in the manner stated by him. He shall be obliged, at the end of every calendar quarter, to give the patentee particulars of the use which has been made and to pay the compensation therefor. If he fails to meet this obligation in due time, the person recorded in the Register as patentee may grant him a reasonable extension of time and, if the extension of time expires without result, may prohibit further use of the invention.

(4) The compensation shall be assessed by the Patent Division at the written request of a party. Sections 46, 47 and 62 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the proceedings. A fee as prescribed in the schedule of fees shall be paid with the request, which may be directed against more than one party; if the fee is not paid, the request shall be deemed not to have been made. In assessing the compensation, the Patent Office may order that the fee be repaid in whole or in part by the opponents of the request. Payment of the fee may be deferred for up to six months after the termination of the proceedings if the patentee furnishes proof that payment may not reasonably be expected of him at present due to his financial situation. If the fee is not paid by that time, the opponents of the request may be ordered to pay compensation for the exploitation of the invention to the Patent Office for the account of the patentee until such time as the amount of the fees still owing has been paid.

(5) After the expiration of one year from the last assessment, any person affected thereby may apply for it to be altered if, in the meantime, circumstances have arisen or have become known which show that the amount of compensation assessed is obviously inappropriate. A fee as prescribed in the schedule of fees shall be paid with the request. In other respects, the provisions of the first to fourth sentences of subsection (4) shall apply mutatis mutandis.

(6) If the declaration is made in respect of an application, the provisions of subsections (1) to (5) shall apply mutatis mutandis.

(7) The declaration may be withdrawn at any time by a written communication to the Patent Office insofar as no intention of using the invention has been notified to the patentee. Withdrawal shall take effect on filing. The amount by which the annual fees have been reduced shall be paid within one month after withdrawal of the declaration. The second and third sentences of Section 17(3) shall apply mutatis mutandis with the proviso that the due date shall be replaced by the end of the one-month period in accordance with the third sentence.

[Amended by Laws of December 20, 1991 and July 16, 1998]

24.—(1) A non-exclusive authorization to commercially exploit an invention shall be granted by the Patent Court in individual cases in accordance with the following provisions (compulsory license) if

1.     the applicant for a license has unsuccessfully endeavored during a reasonable period of time to obtain from the patentee consent to exploit the invention under reasonable conditions usual in trade; and

2.     public interest commands the grant of a compulsory license.

(2) If the applicant for a license is unable to exploit an invention for which he holds protection under a patent of later date without infringing a patent of earlier date, he shall be entitled within the framework of subsection (1) to request the grant of a compulsory license with respect to the owner of the patent of earlier date if his own invention comprises, in comparison with that under the patent of earlier date, an important technical advance of considerable commercial significance. The patentee may require the applicant for a license to grant him a counter license under reasonable conditions for the exploitation of the patented invention of later date.

(3) A compulsory license under subsection (1) may be granted for a patented invention in the field of semi-conductor technology only if such grant is necessary to remove an anti-competitive practice on the part of the patentee that has been established in judicial or administrative proceedings.

(4) If the patentee does not use the patented invention or does not use it predominantly in Germany, compulsory licenses under subsection (1) may be granted to ensure an adequate supply of the patented product to the domestic market. Importing shall be deemed to constitute use of the patent in Germany in such case.

(5) The grant of a compulsory license in a patent shall be permissible only after the grant of the patent. It may be granted subject to restrictions and made dependent upon conditions. The scope and duration of use shall be restricted to the purpose for which they have been permitted. The patentee shall be entitled to remuneration from the holder of a compulsory license that shall be commensurate with the circumstances and shall take into consideration the commercial value of the compulsory license. In the event of a significant change, with respect to the repeated remuneration that will become due in future, in the circumstances on which the determination of the amount of the remuneration was based, each party shall be entitled to require a corresponding adjustment. If the circumstances on which the grant of a compulsory license was based no longer apply and if it is unlikely that they will reoccur, the patentee may require the withdrawal of the compulsory license.

(6) A compulsory license in a patent may only be transferred together with the enterprise concerned by the exploitation of the invention. A compulsory license in an invention that is the subject matter of a patent of earlier date may only be transferred together with the patent of later date.

[Amended by Law of July 16, 1998]

25. A person who has neither domicile nor establishment in Germany may take part in proceedings before the Patent Office or the Patent Court regulated by this Law and assert rights deriving from a patent only if he has appointed a patent attorney or an attorney-at-law in Germany as his representative. The latter shall be authorized to represent him in Patent Office and Patent Court proceedings and in civil litigation affecting the patent; he may also file requests for the institution of criminal proceedings. The place where the representative has his business premises shall be deemed, within the meaning of Section 23 of the Code of Civil Procedure [Zivilprozessordnung], to be the place where the assets are located; if there are no business premises, then the place where the representative has his domicile shall be relevant and, in the absence thereof, the place where the Patent Office has its seat.

26.—(1) The Patent Office shall consist of a President and other members. They must possess the qualifications required for judicial office under the German Law Relating to Judges [Richtergesetz] (legal members) or must be experts in a branch of technology (technical members). The members shall be appointed for life.

(2) As a rule, only a person who has passed a final State or academic examination in a technical or scientific subject at a university, a technical or agricultural university or a mining academy, who has worked professionally for at least five years thereafter in the field of science, agronomy or technology and who is in possession of the requisite legal knowledge shall be appointed a technical member. Final examinations in another Member State of the European Union or in another Contracting State to the Agreement on the European Economic Area shall be deemed equivalent to German final examinations in accordance with European Community law.

(3) When a probable temporary need exists, the President of the Patent Office may temporarily appoint persons having the qualifications required for members (subsections (1) and (2)) to perform the duties of a member of the Patent Office (assistant members). The temporary appointment may be for a specified period or for as long as is needed and cannot be terminated during such period. In other respects, the provisions regarding members shall also apply to assistant members.

[Amended by Law of July 16, 1998]

27.—(1) There shall be established in the Patent Office

1.     Examining Sections for the processing of patent applications and for the provision of information on the state of the art (Section 29(3));

2.     Patent Divisions for all matters concerning granted patents, for the assessment of compensation (Section 23(4) and (6)) and for the grant of the right to legal aid in proceedings before the Patent Office. It shall also be the duty of each Patent Division to give opinions (Section 29(1) and (2)) on matters within its competence.

(2) The tasks of the Examining Sections shall be performed by a technical member of the Patent Division (examiner).

(3) The Patent Division shall be competent to take decisions when at least three members participate, who shall include two technical members when the Division operates under the opposition procedure. If the case involves special legal difficulties and if none of the members participating is a legal member, one of the legal members belonging to the Patent Division shall assist in rendering the decision. A decision whereby a request for the calling in of a legal member is refused shall not be subject to interlocutory appeal.

(4) The Chairman of the Patent Division may handle alone all matters of the Patent Division, with the exception of decisions on maintenance, revocation or limitation of a patent or assessment of compensation (Section 23(4)) and grant of legal aid, or he may delegate these functions to a technical member of the Division; this shall not apply to a hearing.

(5) The Federal Ministry of Justice shall have power to establish by statutory order that officials of the higher and intermediate grades of the civil service as well as comparable employees shall be entrusted with the handling of matters within the competence of the Examining Sections or the Patent Divisions which present no particular technical or legal difficulties, with the exception, however, of the grant of a patent and the rejection of a patent application on grounds which the applicant has contested. The Federal Ministry of Justice may delegate such power by statutory order to the President of the Patent Office.

(6) For the exclusion and challenge of examiners and other members of the Patent Divisions, Sections 41 to 44, the second sentence of Section 45(2) and Sections 47 to 49 of the Code of Civil Procedure relating to exclusion and challenge of members of a court shall apply mutatis mutandis. The same shall apply to officials of the higher and intermediate grades of the civil service and to employees, insofar as they have been entrusted under subsection (5) with the handling of matters within the competence of the Examining Sections or Patent Divisions. Where a challenge plea requires a decision, it shall be taken by the Patent Division.

(7) Experts who are not members may be called in during the deliberations of the Patent Divisions; they shall not take part in the voting.

[Amended by Laws of March 23, 1993 and July 16, 1998]

28.—(1) The Federal Minister for Justice shall regulate the establishment and the business procedure of the Patent Office and determine by statutory order the form of procedure, insofar as provision therefor has not been made by law.

(2) To the extent that provision therefor has not been made by law, the Federal Minister for Justice may prescribe by statutory order the collection of administrative fees to cover the expense of requests addressed to the Patent Office and may, in particular

1.     order that fees be collected for certificates, authentications, consultation of files and furnishing of information and to cover all costs incurred;

2.     establish rules concerning the persons liable to pay fees, the due date of payments, the obligation to pay in advance, exemption from fees, prescription and the procedure for determining fees.

29.—(1) The Patent Office shall be required to give opinions at the request of the courts or of the State Prosecutor’s Office on questions affecting patents if divergent expert opinions are submitted in the proceedings.

(2) In other respects, the Patent Office shall not have the power to take decisions or give opinions outside its statutory sphere of activity without the approval of the Federal Minister for Justice.

(3) The Federal Minister for Justice may, in order to make the documentation of the Patent Office available to the public, prescribe by statutory order that the Office will provide information on the state of the art, without guarantee that the information is complete, without requiring the approval of the Federal Council. In this regard, he shall be authorized to determine the manner in which the information shall be given, the volume of information and the technical fields involved. The Federal Minister for Justice may delegate such authority to the President of the Patent Office without requiring the approval of the Federal Council.

30.—(1) The Patent Office shall maintain a Register in which shall be recorded the titles of patent applications, the files of which may be inspected by any person, and of granted patents, supplementary certificates of protection (Section 16a) and the names and addresses of applicants or of patentees and appointed representatives, if any (Section 25), whereby it shall suffice to enter one such representative. The commencement, division, expiration, lapsing, order for limitation, revocation, declaration of nullity of patents or supplementary certificates of protection (Section 16a), as well as the filing of opposition and of a nullity action shall also be recorded therein.

(2) The President of the Patent Office may determine that further particulars be entered in the Register.

(3) The Patent Office shall record in the Register a change in the identity of the person, of the name or of the address of the applicant or the patentee and of their representatives, if proof thereof is furnished to it. A fee as prescribed by the schedule of fees shall be paid with the request to register a change in the identity of the applicant or of the patentee; if the fee is not paid, the request shall be deemed not to have been filed. As long as the change has not been recorded, the former applicant, patentee or representative shall remain subject to the rights and obligations as provided in this Law.

(4) The Patent Office shall enter in the Register, at the request of the patentee or the licensee, the grant of an exclusive license on condition that the consent of the other party is proven. A request under the first sentence shall not be admissible for the duration of a declaration of willingness to license (Section 23(1)). The entry shall be cancelled on a request by the patentee or the licensee. A request for cancellation by the patentee shall require proof of the consent of the licensee designated in the entry or of his successor in title.

(5) A fee as prescribed by the schedule of fees shall be paid together with a request under the first or third sentences of subsection (4); if the fee is not paid, the request shall be deemed not to have been filed.

[Amended by Law of July 16, 1998]

31.—(1) The Patent Office shall permit any person so requesting to inspect the files and the models and samples relating thereto if and to the extent that satisfactory proof of a legitimate interest has been furnished. However, any person may freely inspect the Register and the patent files, including the files of limitation proceedings (Section 64); the same shall apply to the inspection of files concerning separated parts of a patent (Section 60).

(2) Any person may freely inspect the files of patent applications

1.     if the applicant has expressed to the Patent Office his consent to the inspection of files and has designated the inventor; or

2.     if 18 months have elapsed since the filing date (Section 35 (2)) or, if an earlier date is claimed with respect to the application, since that date,

(3) Where inspection of the files is open to any person, the inspection of models and samples belonging to the files shall also be open to any person.

(4) With respect to the naming of the inventor (Section 37(1)), inspection shall be authorized only in accordance with the first sentence of subsection (1) if requested by the inventor designated by the applicant; the fourth and fifth sentences of Section 63(1) shall be applicable mutatis mutandis.

(5) Inspection of patent applications and patents which, pursuant to Section 50, have not been published, shall be permitted by the Patent Office only after hearing the competent supreme federal authority if and to the extent a special interest, warranting protection, of the person making the request appears to justify affording access and no serious prejudice to the external security of the Federal Republic of Germany is to be expected. If a patent application or a patent under the third sentence of Section 3(2) is cited in proceedings as prior art, the first sentence shall apply mutatis mutandis to that part of the file that is relevant to the opposition.

[Amended by Law of July 16, 1998]

32.—(1) The Patent Office shall publish

1.     unexamined patent applications;

2.     patent specifications; and

3.     a Patent Gazette.

(2) The published applications shall contain those elements of the application open to public inspection under Section 31(2) and the abstract (Section 36) as originally filed or in the altered form accepted for publication by the Patent Office. The applications shall not be published if the patent specification has already been published.

(3) The patent specification shall include the patent claims, description and drawings, on the basis of which the patent was granted. The patent specification shall also state the publications which the Patent Office has taken into account for the assessment of the patentability of the invention which is the subject matter of the application (Section 43(1)). If the abstract (Section 36) has not already been published, it shall be included in the patent specification.

(4) The published applications and patent specifications shall also be published according to the provisions of Section 31(2) if the application has been withdrawn, refused or deemed to have been withdrawn, or if a patent has lapsed after the technical preparation of the publication has been completed.

(5) The Patent Gazette shall regularly contain summaries of entries in the Register, except where they concern only the normal term of patents or the entry and cancellation of exclusive licenses, and references to the possibility of inspection of patent application files, including the files concerning separated parts of a patent (Section 60).

[Amended by Law of July 16, 1998]

33.—(1) As from publication of the notification pursuant to Section 32(5), the applicant may require from any person who has used the subject matter of the application, although he knew or should have known that the invention used by him was the subject matter of the application, compensation appropriate to the circumstances; further claims shall not be permitted.

(2) No claim to compensation shall be admissible if the subject matter of the application is obviously unpatentable.

(3) Section 141 shall be applicable mutatis mutandis with the proviso that the claim shall not be barred prior to expiration of one year after the grant of the patent.

[Amended by Law of July 16, 1998]

34.—(1) Applications for the grant of patents for invention shall be filed with the Patent Office.

(2) Applications may also be filed through a Patent Information Center where an announcement by the Federal Ministry of Justice in the Federal Law Gazette has designated such center for receiving patent applications. Applications that may contain a State secret (Section 93 of the Penal Code [Strafgesetzbuch]) may not be filed with a Patent Information Center.

(3) Applications shall contain

1.     the name of the applicant;

2.     a request for the grant of a patent, which shall designate the invention clearly and concisely;

3.     one or more claims defining the matter for which protection is sought;

4.     a description of the invention;

5.     any drawings referred to in the claims or the description.

(4) Applications shall disclose the invention in a manner sufficiently clear and complete for it to be carried out by a person skilled in the art.

(5) The application shall relate to one invention only or to a group of inventions so linked as to form a single general inventive concept.

(6) A fee as prescribed by the schedule of fees shall be paid with the application. If the fee is not paid, the Patent Office shall notify the applicant that the application will be deemed to have been withdrawn unless the fee is paid before the end of one month after service of the notification.

(7) The Federal Ministry of Justice shall have power to issue by statutory order regulations concerning the form and other requirements of the application. It may delegate such power by statutory order to the President of the Patent Office.

(8) At the request of the Patent Office, the applicant shall state the prior art fully and truthfully to the best of his knowledge and incorporate it in the description (subsection (3)).

(9) The Federal Ministry of Justice shall have power to issue by statutory order regulations concerning the deposit of biological material, access to such material, including those persons entitled to have access and the repeated deposit of biological material where an invention comprises the use of biological material or concerns such material that is not accessible to the public and cannot be described in the application in such a way that a person skilled in the art could carry out the invention (subsection (4)). It may delegate such power by statutory order to the President of the Patent Office.

[Amended by Law of July 16, 1998]

35.—(1) If the application is not drafted or is not drafted wholly in German, the applicant shall be required to file a German translation within three months of the filing of the application. If the application contains a reference to drawings and no drawings accompany the application, the Patent Office shall invite the applicant to file the drawings or to declare that any reference to drawings shall be deemed not to have been made, within one month of service of the invitation.

(2) The filing date of the patent application shall be the date on which the elements referred to in Section 34(3)1 and 2 and, if they contain any statements that would appear to constitute a description, those referred to in Section 34(3)4, have been received

1.     at the Patent Office;

2.     or at a Patent Information Center where such center has been designated for that purpose in an announcement by the Federal Ministry of Justice in the Federal Law Gazette.

If the elements are not drafted in German, this shall apply only if a German translation is received by the Patent Office within the period of time referred to in the first sentence of subsection (1); if such is not done, the application shall be deemed not to have been filed. If the applicant files the omitted drawings after having been invited to do so in accordance with the second sentence of subsection (1), the date of receipt of the drawings at the Patent Office shall constitute the filing date; if such is not done, any reference to the drawings shall be deemed not to have been made.

[Amended by Law of July 16, 1998]

36.—(1) Applications must be accompanied by an abstract which can be filed up to 15 months from the filing date or, where an earlier date is claimed for the application, up to 15 months from that date.

(2) Abstracts shall merely serve for use as technical information. They shall contain

1.     the title of the invention;

2.     a concise summary of the disclosure as contained in the application, which shall indicate the technical field of the invention and shall be drafted in such a way that it permits a clear understanding of the technical problem, its solution and the main use or uses of the invention;

3.     a drawing, if mentioned in the concise summary; if several drawings are mentioned, the drawing that, in the opinion of the applicant, most clearly identifies the invention.

[Amended by Law of July 16, 1998]

37.—(1) Within a period of 15 months from the filing date or, if an earlier date is claimed as relevant to the application, within 15 months from such date, the applicant shall name the inventor or inventors and affirm that to his knowledge no other person has contributed to the invention. If the applicant is not the inventor or not the sole inventor, he shall also state how he acquired the right to the patent. The correctness of such statement shall not be verified by the Patent Office.

(2) If the applicant can justifiably show that he has been prevented by exceptional circumstances from making in due time the declarations prescribed in subsection (1), the Patent Office shall grant him a reasonable extension of time. The time limit shall not be prolonged beyond the time of issue of the decision to grant a patent. If by that time the aforesaid circumstances still exist, the Patent Office shall grant another extension. Six months before the expiration of the time limit, the Patent Office shall notify the patentee that the patent will lapse if he does not make the prescribed declarations within six months after service of the notification.

[Amended by Law of July 16, 1998]

38. Up to the time of the decision to grant a patent, the contents of the application may be amended on condition that the scope of the subject matter of the application is not extended; however, until a request for examination is filed (Section 44), only the correction of obvious mistakes, the remedying of defects pointed out by the Examining Section or amendments to claims shall be permissible. No rights may be derived from amendments which broaden the scope of the subject matter of the application.

39.—(1) An applicant may at any time divide his application. The division shall be declared in writing. If the division is declared after the filing of the request for examination (Section 44), the separated part shall be deemed an application for which a request for examination has been filed. The date of the original application and any claimed priority shall be maintained for each divisional application.

(2) For the period up to division, the same fees which were payable for the original application shall be paid for the separated application. This shall not apply to the fee under Section 43 if the division is declared prior to the filing of the request for examination (Section 44), unless a request under Section 43 is filed for the separated application.

(3) If the elements of the application required by Sections 34 to 36 are not filed for the separated application within three months of receipt of the declaration of division, or the fees for the separated application have not been paid within such period, the declaration of division shall be deemed not to have been made.

[Amended by Law of July 16, 1998]

40.—(1) An applicant shall enjoy, within a period of 12 months from the filing date of an earlier patent or utility model application filed with the Patent Office, a priority right with respect to a patent application for the same invention, unless a domestic or foreign priority had already been claimed for the earlier application.

(2) The priority of more than one application for a patent or utility model filed with the Patent Office may be claimed for the application.

(3) Priority may only be claimed for those features of the application which are clearly disclosed in the totality of the application documents for the earlier application.

(4) Priority may only be claimed within two months of the filing date of the later application; the declaration of priority shall only be deemed to have been made if the reference number of the earlier application is given.

(5) If the earlier application is still pending before the Patent Office, it shall be deemed withdrawn at the time of making the declaration of priority under subsection (4). This shall not apply if the early application concerns a utility model.

(6) If inspection of the file is requested (Section 31) for a later application that claims the priority of an earlier patent or utility model application, the Patent Office shall include a copy of the earlier patent or utility model application in the file of the later application.

[Amended by Laws of December 20, 1991 and July 16, 1998]

41.—(1) Any person who, in accordance with an international treaty, claims the date of an earlier foreign application for the same invention shall, before the end of the 16th month following the priority date, state the date, country and reference number of the earlier application and file a copy of the earlier application where such has not already been done. Particulars may be altered within those periods. Where the particulars are not provided in due time, the priority claim for the application shall be forfeited.

(2) Where the earlier foreign application has been filed in a State not bound by an international agreement on the recognition of priority, the applicant may claim a right of priority corresponding to that under the Paris Convention, provided that, after publication by the Federal Ministry of Justice in the Federal Law Gazette, the other State grants a right of priority for a first filing with the Patent Office, which is, according to its requirements and contents comparable to that under the Paris Convention; subsection (1) shall be applicable.

[Amended by Laws of October 25, 1994 and July 16, 1998]

42.—(1) If the application obviously does not comply with the requirements of Sections 34, 36, 37 and 38, the Examining Section shall request the applicant to remedy the defects within a specified period. If the application does not comply with the provisions in respect of the form and other requirements for applications (Section 34(7)), the Examining Section may refrain from objecting to the defects until the start of the examination procedure (Section 44).

(2) If the subject matter of the application obviously

1.     does not, by reason of its nature, constitute an invention;

2.     is not susceptible of industrial application;

3.     is excluded from patentability under Section 2; or

4.     its purpose is not, in the case of the second sentence of Section 16(1), an improvement or further development of the other invention,

the Examining Section shall notify the applicant thereof, stating its reasons, and invite him to submit his comments within a specified period. The same shall apply if, in the case of the second sentence of Section 16(1), the additional application has not been filed within the specified period.

(3) The Examining Section shall reject the application if the defects referred to in subsection (1) are not remedied or the application is maintained although obviously no patentable invention exists (subsection (2), items 1 to 3) or the requirements of the second sentence of Section 16(1) are obviously not met (subsection (2), first sentence, item 4, second sentence). If rejection is to be based on facts that have not yet been communicated to the applicant, he shall first be given an opportunity to submit his comments within a specified period.

[Amended by Law of July 16, 1998]

43.—(1) The Patent Office shall, upon request, identify those publications to be taken into consideration in assessing the patentability of the invention in respect of which an application has been filed. Where the search for such publications is assumed for all or for certain technical fields, wholly or in part, by an international institution (subsection (8), item 1), a request may be submitted that the search be made in such a way that the applicant can also use the result for a European application.

(2) The request may be filed by the patent applicant or by any other person, whereby the latter shall not thereby become a participant in the procedure. The request shall be filed in writing. Section 25 shall be applicable mutatis mutandis. A fee as prescribed by the schedule of fees shall be paid with the request; if the fee is not paid, the request shall be deemed not to have been filed. If the request is filed in connection with an application for a patent of addition (Section 16(1), second sentence), the Patent Office shall invite the applicant to file a request as specified in subsection (1), before the expiration of one month after the invitation in connection with the application for the main patent; if no request is filed, the application for the patent of addition shall be regarded as an application for an independent patent.

(3) The filing of the request shall be published in the Patent Gazette, but not before publication of the notification pursuant to Section 32(5). If the request is filed by a person other than the applicant, the applicant shall also be notified of the filing of the request. Any person shall be entitled to inform the Patent Office of publications which might oppose the grant of a patent.

(4) The request shall be deemed not to have been filed if a request pursuant to Section 44 has already been filed. In such case, the Patent Office shall notify the person making the request of the date of filing of the request pursuant to Section 44. The fee paid for the request shall be refunded.

(5) If a request pursuant to subsection (1) has been filed, subsequent requests shall be deemed not to have been filed. The second and third sentences of subsection (4) shall be applicable mutatis mutandis.

(6) If a request filed by a person who is not the applicant is found to be ineffective after notification of the applicant (subsection (3), second sentence), the Patent Office shall also advise the applicant thereof in addition to such other person.

(7) The Patent Office shall communicate the publications ascertained in accordance with subsection (1) to the applicant and, if the request has been filed by another person, to such person and the applicant, without guarantee as to their completeness, and shall publish in the Patent Gazette the fact that such communication has been made. If the publications have been searched by an international institution and if the applicant has so requested (subsection (1), second sentence), this shall be stated in the communication.

(8) To accelerate the patent granting procedure, the Federal Minister for Justice shall have power to direct by statutory order that

1.     the search for the publications specified in subsection (1) shall be assigned to a section of the Patent Office other than the Examining Section (Section 27(1)) or to another national or international institution, in whole or for certain technical fields or certain languages, provided that the institution concerned appears competent to search for the publications to be taken into consideration;

2.     the Patent Office shall provide foreign or international authorities with data from the files of patent applications for their mutual information on the results of examination procedures and state-of-the-art searches, where the applications concerned relate to inventions in respect of which the grant of a patent has also been applied for to such foreign or international authorities;

3.     the examination of patent applications according to Section 42 and the supervision of fees and time limits shall be transferred in whole or in part to sections of the Patent Office other than the Examining Sections or Patent Divisions (Section 27(1)).

44.—(1) The Patent Office shall examine on request whether the application complies with the requirements of Sections 34, 37 and 38 and whether the subject matter of the application is patentable under Sections 1 to 5.

(2) The request may be filed by the applicant or by any other person, whereby the latter shall not become a participant in the examination procedure, prior to the expiration of seven years after the filing of the application.

(3) A fee as prescribed in the schedule of fees shall be paid with the request; if the fee is not paid, the request shall be deemed not to have been filed.

(4) If a request pursuant to Section 43 has already been filed, the examination procedure shall begin only after the request pursuant to Section 43 has been dealt with. In other respects, Section 43(2), second, third and fifth sentences, and subsections (3), (5) and (6) shall be applicable mutatis mutandis. If a request filed by a person other than the applicant is ineffective, the applicant himself may file a request within a period of three months from service of the notification, provided that such period expires later than the period specified in subsection (2). If the applicant does not file a request, a notice shall be published in the Patent Gazette, referring to the publication of the request filed by such other person and stating that the request is ineffective.

(5) The examination procedure shall be continued even if the request for examination is withdrawn. In the case under the third sentence of subsection (4), the procedure shall be continued from the point which it had reached at the time the applicant’s request for examination was filed.

[Amended by Law of July 16, 1998]

45.—(1) If the application does not comply with the requirements of Sections 34, 37 and 38 or if the requirements of Section 36 are manifestly not fulfilled, the Examining Section shall request the applicant to remedy the defects within a specified period. The first sentence shall not apply to defects concerning the abstract, where the abstract has already been published.

(2) If the Examining Section reaches the conclusion that the invention is not patentable under Sections 1 to 5, it shall notify the applicant thereof, shall state its grounds, and shall invite the applicant to submit his comments within a specified period.

[Amended by Law of July 16, 1998]

46.—(1) The Examining Section may at any time summon and hear the parties, may examine witnesses, experts and the parties, whether under oath or not, and may institute other inquiries necessary for clarification of the matter. Before a decision is taken as to publication, the patent applicant shall be given a hearing on request where appropriate. The request shall be filed in writing. If the request is not filed in the prescribed form or if the Examining Section does not consider a hearing to be appropriate, it shall reject the request. A decision to reject a request shall not be subject to interlocutory appeal.

(2) Minutes of the hearing and examination of witnesses shall be taken, which shall reproduce the essentials of the proceedings and shall contain those declarations of the parties that are relevant in law. Sections 160a, 162 and 163 of the Code of Civil Procedure shall apply mutatis mutandis. The parties shall receive a copy of the minutes.

47.—(1) The decisions of the Examining Sections shall contain the grounds, shall be in writing and shall be communicated ex officio to the parties. They may also be pronounced at the end of a hearing; the first sentence shall remain unaffected. Grounds need not be given if the applicant is the sole party and his request is allowed.

(2) The written copy shall be accompanied by a statement informing the parties of possible appeal from the decision, of the authority with which an appeal may be lodged, of the time limit for lodging an appeal and of the appeal fee, if any, to be paid. The time limit for lodging an appeal (Section 73(2)) shall begin to run only when the parties have been informed in writing. If they have not been informed or have been incorrectly informed, an appeal may only be lodged within one year from service of the decision, except where information has been given in writing that an appeal was not permissible; Section 123 shall apply mutatis mutandis.

48. The Examining Section shall reject the application if the defects objected to under Section 45(1) have not been remedied or if examination shows that the invention is not patentable under Sections 1 to 5. The second sentence of Section 42(3) shall be applicable.

[Amended by Law of July 16, 1998]

49.—(1) If the application complies with the requirements of Sections 34, 37 and 38, if defects in the abstract objected to under Section 45(1) have been remedied and if the subject matter of the application is patentable in accordance with Sections 1 to 5, the Examining Section shall order the grant of a patent.

(2) The decision to grant shall be deferred at the request of the applicant for a period of 15 months beginning either with the date on which the application is filed with the Patent Office or, if an earlier date has been claimed, with such earlier date.

[Amended by Law of July 16, 1998]

49a.—(1) If the person registered as patentee requests supplementary protection, the Patent Division shall examine whether the application complies with the relevant Council Regulation of the European Economic Community and with subsections (3) and (4) and Section 16a.

(2) If the application complies with those requirements, the Patent Division shall grant a supplementary certificate of protection for the duration of its term. In the contrary case, it shall invite the applicant to rectify any defect within a time limit to be set by the Patent Division, which shall be of at least two months. If the defects are not remedied, it shall reject the application by a decision.