German patent law is mainly governed by the ''Patents Act'' (german: Patentgesetz) and the
European Patent Convention. A patent covering Germany can be obtained through four different routes: through the direct filing of a national patent application with the
German Patent and Trade Mark Office (german: Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt) (direct national route), through the filing of a
European patent application (European route), or through the filing of an international application under the
Patent Cooperation Treaty followed by the entry into either the European phase or the national (German) phase of said international application (Euro-PCT route). The German patent has a
term of 20 years.
Litigation
The German patent litigation system is one of the few patent systems in which the issue of
patent infringement
Patent infringement is the commission of a prohibited act with respect to a patented invention without permission from the patent holder. Permission may typically be granted in the form of a license. The definition of patent infringement may v ...
and of
patent validity are dealt with by different courts. The district courts deal with infringement, whereas the
Federal Patent Court (German: ''Bundespatentgericht'') is in charge of deciding the validity of patents.
Such a system is sometimes dubbed a "bifurcation system."
See also
*
Copyright law of Germany
* ''
Rote Taube'' ("Red Dove"), a landmark decision of the Federal Court of Justice of Germany (Bundesgerichtshof) (X ZB 15/67, 27 Mar. 1969)
References
External links
Patent Act
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