Annual Report 2012 At a glance Changes Industrial property rights 2011 2012 in % Patents Applications 1 59,607 61,311 + 2.9 Concluded examination procedures 26,944 29,306 + 8.8 (final) - with patent grant 2 11,922 11,526 - 3.3 Stock 3 125,112 124,142 - 0.8 Applications Trade marks 69,124 64,313 - 7.0 (national and international) National marks Applications 64,052 59,849 - 6.6 Concluded examination procedures 71,321 64,860 - 9.1 - with registration 51,330 46,099 - 10.2 Stock 780,985 784,820 + 0.5 Requests for grant of protection International marks 5,072 4,464 - 12.0 in Germany Grants of protection 4,406 3,872 - 12.1 Utility models Applications 16,061 15,491 - 3.5 Concluded examination procedures 17,044 16,531 - 3.0 - with registration 14,230 13,978 - 1.8 Stock 93,266 92,255 - 1.1 Designs Designs applied for 53,081 53,862 + 1.5 Concluded examination procedures 50,790 51,993 + 2.4 - with registration 48,888 49,160 + 0.6 Stock 283,716 290,071 + 2.2 1 Patent applications at the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA) and PCT patent applications upon their entry into the national phase 2 Including patents in respect of which an opposition was filed under Section 59 Patent Act. 3 A total of 549,297 patents were valid in Germany in 2012 including patents granted by the European Patent Office with effect in the Federal Republic of Germany. Budget German Patent and Trade Mark Office and Federal Patent Court (per million €) 2011 2012 Changes in % Income 317.4 325.9 + 2.7 Expenditure 245.5 259.6 + 5.7 of which for personnel 143.3 143.3 ± 0.0 Personnel of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office 2011 2012 Changes in % Staff 2,699 2,527 - 6.4 Contents Preface . 2 Patents . 4 Utility models . 18 Trade marks . 22 Interview with Barbara Preißner . 32 Indications of geographical origin . 34 Designs . 36 Supervision of collecting societies . 42 Patent attorneys and representatives . 44 Arbitration boards at the German Patent and Trade Mark Office . 46 Information services . 50 National cooperation projects . 54 Information technology. 58 Staff . 62 Finances . 66 International cooperation . 68 Events in 2012 . 76 Inventor and innovation awards . 86 A glance at 2013 . 88 Statistics . 92 Service . 107 DPMA ANNUAL REPORT 2012 1 The German Patent and Trade Mark Office – your strong partner for the protection of innovations In Germany, the economic upswing is inseparably con- vantages of IP rights and about ideas and inventions that nected with innovation. Our country may be relatively are already protected. poor in natural resources, but we stand out due to our wealth of ideas, research spirit and creativity. The protec- “We” refers to a staff of more than 2,500 people in our tion of intellectual property is an important stimulus to central headquarters in Munich, in the Jena Sub-Office future innovations, not just in Germany but worldwide. and in the Technical Information Centre Berlin. The German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA) con- tributes greatly to the protection of innovations. The DPMA is divided into five areas of work, the depart- ments (see organisation chart on the back cover): We grant, register and administer industrial property rights – patents, trade marks, utility models and designs. More information about us and our work is available at We also provide information to the public about the ad- www.dpma.de. ↗ Patents (Departments 1/I and 1/II) ↗ Trade Marks, Utility Models and Designs (Department 3) The patent area covers a large field of work and is organ- In Department 3, more than 350 staff examine your ised into two departments: Department 1/I (general engi- applications for trade marks, utility models, designs and neering and mechanical technology) and Department 1/ topographies. They register these IP rights, deal with II (electrical engineering, chemistry and physics). More third-party oppositions and decide on the cancellation of than 800 patent examiners assess the patentability of individual registrations. inventions described in the applications received, grant patents and deal with oppositions. ↗ Information (Department 2) ↗ Administration and Law (Department 4) The staff of Department 2 provide information to the The staff of Department 4 manage the various ad- public about industrial property rights and the individu- ministrative tasks necessary to run an organisation, for al steps of the application procedure. They manage and example, personnel and budgetary matters, facilities update our databases and provide search support to users. management and organisation of business processes. Likewise, the staff deal with all fundamental legal affairs. These also include managing matters concerning patent attorneys, government supervision of collecting societies and international cooperation with other IP organisa- tions. 2 PREFACE PREFACE 3 In 2012 we tackled many tasks and challenges at the of controversial discussions. Under what conditions can German Patent and Trade Mark Office: patents be granted for these inventions in Germany? Our answer to this exciting question gets its very own chap- The main focus was on optimising the electronic case ter in the section “In Focus” in this year‘s annual report. file, which we introduced for patents and utility models in 2011. Your comments and inquiries have been very We have frequently been asked whether the examination of helpful for us to further develop and adjust the system a Community trade mark at the Office for Harmonization and processes. We would therefore like to take this op- in the Internal Market is less rigorous than the exami- portunity to sincerely thank you for your constructive nation of a national trade mark at our office. This and feedback and your confidence. other questions will be answered in an interview with After the successful introduction of the electronic case the Head of Department 3. file, the path is now also clear for online file inspection, which we intend to activate for you in 2013. As the world’s fifth largest national patent and trade mark office we will continue to be involved in international So far the continuing tight financial situation in Europe activities. This is the only way for us to contribute to has not had any significant impact on applications for IP actively shaping international standards in the area of rights at our organisation. Inventors and enterprises con- IP protection in the interest of our customers. In the past tinue to be committed to innovation thus strengthening year we expanded the Patent Prosecution Highway net- their competitiveness. Application numbers rose again in work with various partner offices. Seize the opportunity 2012, above all, in the patent area. to apply for fast-track examination also with regard to applications in China and the United Kingdom. We have Small and medium-sized businesses in particular have evaluated the experience gained over the past few years great innovative potential and are an important engine and published new guidelines on the Patent Prosecution of the German economy. Therefore, we aim to further ex- Highway programme. This will help to further harmonise pand our information and support services for small and procedures of the participating national patent offices at an medium enterprises and individual inventors. Our coope- international level. It will make participation in this pro- ration with the 23 patent information centres in Germany gramme in many ways easier for you, as a patent applicant. ensures that expert advice on industrial property rights is available locally where it is predominantly sought by these The other subjects presented this year under the heading groups of applicants. For the first time we devote a whole “In Focus” are again devoted to automotive technology chapter to our national cooperation partners. and renewable energy due to their great importance. Rules regarding patents on software and computer- This annual report contains detailed information on implemented inventions have repeatedly been the subject these topics and much more. We hope you enjoy reading it. Yours sincerely, Cornelia Rudloff-Schäffer Günther Schmitz President Vice-President German Patent and Trade Mark Office German Patent and Trade Mark Office Patents Protection for technical inventions As a country relatively poor in natural resources, contracting states. Applications under the PCT can also Germany’s economic success is based on its inventiveness be filed directly at the DPMA. and the innovations resulting from it. Its source of wealth lies in the heads of ingenious inventors and scientists. Detailed information is available in our “Patents” infor- Patents can protect a great number of such innovations mation brochure and on our website. from imitation. Patents may be applied for in any technical field. Our pa- tent examiners grant a patent if the requirements novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability are met. Patents provide protection for a limited period of time. The owner of the patent has the exclusive right to exploit the invention for a period of up to 20 years from the filing date. In return, the invention is disclosed to the public. There are several options to protect an invention by a patent in Germany: either by filing an application for the grant of a national patent at the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA), by applying for a European patent at the European Patent Office (EPO) or by filing an international application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) to request an IP right in some or all PCT www.dpma.de PATENTS 5 Development of patent applications Origin of patent applications Creative minds and companies stay innovative and Table 1 shows the countries of origin of the patent appli- continue to rely on industrial property rights. For the cations received at the DPMA.