Patent law includes all regulations that deal with the patent as an industrial property right, in particular the granting and protective effect of the patent and the procedure for registering a patent in patent law.
A patent offers the possibility of having a new technical invention protected against unauthorized commercial use by third parties. If you have obtained a patent, you can therefore exclude other people from using it or allow them to use it, for example by granting a license.
Patent protection is obtained in patent law by registering the patent with the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA). The main requirements are novelty, based on inventive step and commercial applicability of the invention, cf.§ 1 PatG. The term of protection under patent law is a maximum of 20 years from the filing date. If you want to protect your invention at the European level, you can also register the patent with the European Patent Office (EPO). In patent law, there is still the possibility of an even more extensive international patent application based on the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).
Patent law has found legal expression primarily in the Patent Act of the same name (PatG).
On the following pages we will try to provide you with as much information as possible about patent law.
We also recommend the following pages on the subject of patent law: