Germany
Answer ... A patent application should be submitted to any branch of the German Patent and Trademark Office (GPTO), whose main address is as follows:
German Patent and Trade Mark Office
Central Customer Care and Services
Zweibrückenstraße 12
80331 Munich, Germany
Tel: +49 89 2195 1000
Fax: +49 89 2195 2221
The filing requirements for an application are as follows:
- the specification (applications may be filed in any language; but if not German, a German translation must be filed within three months or, in case of a translation of an English or French-language application, within 12 months of the application date or within 15 months of the priority date) (not applicable when nationalising a Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) application in Germany);
- an abstract comprising the title and an extract of the disclosure, but not exceeding 150 words; if reference is made to a drawing, that drawing must be added;
- the patent claims;
- drawings (if designated);
- a power of attorney for the representative (this can be filed later on and no legalisation is required); if the representative is a patent attorney or a lawyer, the GPTO will normally refrain from asking for a power of attorney;
- a declaration of inventorship (to be filed within 15 months of the filing date or priority date respectively), containing the full name, profession and address of the inventor or inventors, and the date of assignment. The declaration of inventorship can be signed by the representative; and
- a copy of any priority application (no certification required), to be filed within 16 months of the priority date, indicating the country, filing date and file number of the first application.
Germany
Answer ... No answer submitted for this question.
Germany
Answer ... Patents cannot be granted for:
- mere discoveries;
- scientific theories and mathematical methods;
- aesthetic creations;
- schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts, playing games or doing business;
- computers programs as such;
- presentations of information as such;
- inventions whose commercial exploitation would be contrary to public order or morality, such as torture instruments, letter bombs and apparatus for illegal gambling or for the production of clearly harmful or dangerous food or drinks;
- plant or animal varieties;
- the human body at the various stages of its formation and development, and the simple discovery of one of its elements, including the sequence or partial sequence of a gene;
- processes for cloning human beings;
- processes for modifying the germ line genetic identity of human beings;
- uses of human embryos for industrial or commercial purposes;
- processes for modifying the genetic identity of animals which are likely to cause them suffering without any substantial medical benefit to humans; and
- methods for treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy and diagnostic methods.
Germany
Answer ... In response to a justified request for accelerated proceedings, urgency must be given to proceedings if the otherwise expected duration of the proceedings would lead to considerable disadvantages for the applicant. Requests for acceleration apply in principle only to the next procedural step, but that will be accelerated if the request for acceleration is granted.
To protect an invention internationally, an acceleration request under the Global Patent Prosecution Highway (GPPH) may be an interesting option. This allows innovators to apply for international protection and have their inventions examined more quickly. Participation in the GPPH is free of charge at the GPTO.
To participate in the GPPH, the applicant must have already filed a patent application with the same content and seniority at a GPPH partner office. In addition, the first filing office must have assessed the invention as patentable – at least for a patent claim. This means, for example, that the applicant must have obtained a patent or a positive PCT search report.
It is also possible to file a patent application simultaneously with several GPPH patent offices. As soon as one of these offices deems the invention to be patentable, the applicant can request accelerated examination at the other patent offices with the same claims. In submitting the request for accelerated examination, the applicant may have to file suitably adapted patent claims. In this case, the authorities can mutually use their work and search results. However, they are not bound by the work results of the other offices.
Germany
Answer ... In Germany, the Federal Court of Justice has held that a Swiss-type claim drafted in the format “The use of a compound X for the manufacture of a medicament for treating condition B, wherein the medicament is administered in a dosage regime” does not comply with Section 5(2) of the Patent Act (Decision X ZR 236/01 – Carvedilol II, dated 19 December 2006). However, the court considered the following, slightly modified wording allowable: “The use of a compound X for the manufacture of a medicament for treating condition B, wherein the medicament is prepared to be administered in a dosage regime.”
A mere medical method claim is excluded from patentability in Germany
Germany
Answer ... A supplementary protection certificate (SPC) is a way to obtain extended protection for medicinal products and plant protection products. It is true that the SPC is a sui generis IP right. However, since the SPC has the same effects during its lifetime as the patent on which it is based, the protection initially conferred by the patent is de facto extended by the SPC. However, the protection conferred by a certificate extends only to the product covered by the authorisation to place the corresponding medicinal or plant protection product on the market, and specifically extends to any use of the product as a medicinal or plant protection product that has been authorised before the expiry of the SPC.
Germany
Answer ... Patents shall be granted for technical inventions which are new, involve an inventive step and are susceptible of industrial application (Section 1(1) of the Patent Act).
This also applies to inventions concerning products that consist of or contain:
- biological material;
- a process by means of which biological material is produced, processed or used; or
- biological material which is isolated from its natural environment or produced by means of a technical process, even if it previously occurred in nature (Section 1(2) of the Patent Act).
‘Biological material’ means any material containing genetic information and capable of reproducing itself or being reproduced in a biological system. If an invention concerns biological material, a sample of this biological material capable of reproducing itself may be deposited – instead of a repeatable process of supplying or manufacturing – for the purposes of disclosing the technical information (see also Information Leaflet X 1200).
If an invention is based on biological material of plant or animal origin, or if it uses such material, the application should include information on the geographical origin of such material, if known (Section 34a, first sentence of the Patent Act).
In particular, the following are not protectable as patents (Sections 1(3) of the Patent Act):
- discoveries (ie, finding something that already exists, but was previously unknown, such as magnetism), as well as scientific theories and mathematical methods;
- aesthetic creations (however, design protection may be obtained for shapes, patterns and colour configurations if the relevant requirements are met);
- schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts (eg, building plans, dress patterns, teaching methods for human beings and animals, musical notes, shorthand systems), for playing games or for doing business (eg, accounting systems), and computer programs as such (ie, insofar as they do not contain a technical teaching);
- presentations of information (eg, tables, forms and typographical arrangements); and
- constructions and processes which cannot be carried out – for example, because they are contrary to the laws of nature (eg, a machine that is supposed to operate without energy supply (perpetual mobile engine)).
Furthermore, patents cannot be granted in respect of:
- the human body at the various stages of its formation and development, including germ cells, and the simple discovery of one of its elements, including the sequence or partial sequence of a gene (Section 1a of the Patent Act);
- inventions whose industrial exploitation would be contrary to public order or morality (Section 2 of the Patent Act); such violation, however, cannot merely be derived from the fact that the use of the invention is prohibited by law or regulation;
- processes for cloning human beings and for modifying the germ line genetic identity of human beings;
- uses of human embryos for industrial or commercial purposes (Embryo Protection Act);
- processes for modifying the genetic identity of animals which are likely to cause them suffering without any substantial medical benefit to man or animal, and also animals resulting from such processes;
- plant and animal varieties, essentially biological processes for the production of plants and animals, and plants and animals that are exclusively produced by such processes (Section 2a(1) no 1 of the Patent Act); and
- methods for treatment of the human and animal body by surgery or therapy and diagnostic methods (Section 2a(1) no 2 of the Patent Act).
Germany
Answer ... The appeal must be filed at the GPTO and the GPTO has a remedy.
An appeal against decisions of the GPTO is provided for (Sections 73 and following of the Patent Act). The appeal procedure is a genuine second-instance procedure, in which the challenged decision is reviewed in law and in fact. The review in factual terms may be extensive. The subject of the appeal is the appellant’s request, not the challenged decision. Thus, the Senate can decide on the substance of the case itself.
The appeal proceedings of the Patent Court require a decision on the merits (order).
Under Section 79 II of the Patent Act, the contested decision may also be revoked and referred back to the GPTO.
The appeal shall be decided by means of a decision. Oral proceedings are not mandatory.