Federal Patent Court (Germany)

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GermanyGermany Federal Patent Court
- BPatG -p1
Federal eagle of the German federal organs
State level Federation
position Federal court
Supervisory body (s) Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection
Consist since July 1, 1961
Headquarters Munich , Bavaria
management Beate Schmidt , President of the Federal Patent Court
Website www.bundespatentgericht.de
Office building of the Federal Patent Court

The Federal Patent Court ( BPatG ) is the second largest German federal court and is based in Munich . It was founded on July 1, 1961. The task of this court is to rule on certain legal disputes regarding industrial property rights (including patents and trademarks ).

history

Since the establishment of the German Patent Office in 1877, its decisions have been examined in an appeal procedure by special offices of the Patent Office itself. This division of tasks was initially retained after 1949 under the application of the Basic Law (GG). This gave rise to the problem that Article 19 (4) of the Basic Law opened legal recourse to independent courts for every violation of rights by public authorities. In 1959 , the Federal Administrative Court decided in the dispute as to whether the patent office's appeal committees were such independent courts that all decisions of the patent office were subject to the control of the administrative judiciary. As a result, the Basic Law was supplemented in 1961 by adding Art. 96 GG, according to which the Federation can set up a federal court for matters of industrial property protection, and the Federal Patent Court was brought into being in the same year using the authorization now created in the Basic Law.

jurisdiction

The Federal Patent Court formally belongs to the ordinary jurisdiction as the only special court determined by federal law , because it according to Art. 96 para. 3 GG in the instance under the Federal Court is filed. In substance, the Federal Patent Court performs administrative tasks of legal control of the decisions of the German Patent and Trademark Office and the Federal Plant Variety Office . In addition, it is responsible for nullity actions with which third parties attack the validity of a national patent or a European patent for the area of ​​the Federal Republic of Germany or a supplementary protection certificate (for drugs and plant protection products) issued for this purpose. It is also responsible for the (very rare) issuing of compulsory licenses to these patents.

For legal disputes in which the violation of registered property rights is asserted, the Federal Patent Court is not responsible, but the ordinary jurisdiction of the states, mostly special chambers of certain regional courts .

Court organization / panel

Meeting room with IT equipment
Judge's bench in the meeting room with IT equipment
Library
Meeting room with IT equipment

The Federal Patent Court decides the individual disputes through senates, the composition of which depends on the legal matter of the individual case (cf., for example, § 67 PatG and § 67 MarkenG ).

Judge

Both legally qualified members, who must be qualified to hold judicial office , and technical members, who must be competent in a branch of technology (mostly former examiners of the German Patent and Trademark Office ), act as judges . The composition of the senates is regulated in § 67 PatG, § 67 Abs. 1 MarkenG, § 18 Abs. 3 GebrMG and § 34 Abs. 5 SortSchG. Accordingly, the technical appeals senate and the utility model senate are staffed with three technical judges and one lawyer, the nullity senate with three technical judges and two lawyers, and the trademark senate and the legal appeal panel with only three lawyers. In 2017, 108 judges were employed at the BPatG, of which 29 were female and 79 female judges. The senates were composed of 59 technical judges, i. H. with technical and scientific training and 49 judges with legal training.

In May 2011, Beate Schmidt was introduced to her office as President. Vice-President has been Klaus Strößner since July 2010 .

Procedure

The procedure before the Federal Patent Court is regulated by the individual laws on industrial property protection, in particular by the Patent Act and the Trademark Act , as well as, subordinately, by the civil procedure code.

The court takes part in electronic legal transactions, which is why electronic documents can be submitted there. Since September 2007 the Federal Patent Court and the Federal Court of Justice have been able to access electronic documents and the like. a. be submitted in the form of the ISO-certified OpenDocument format .

Business distribution

The Federal Patent Court has (as of 2017):

  • 1 Board of Appeal for Plant Variety Protection Matters (36th Senate),
  • 1 utility model complaints board (35th Senate),
  • 1 Legal Appeals Senate and Nullity Senate (7th Senate),
  • 6 trade mark appeals panels (25th - 30th Senate),
  • 6 nullity senates (1st - 6th Senate),
  • 12 Technical Appeals Senate (8th – 12th, 14th, 15th, 17th – 20th and 23rd Senate).

staff

102 judges and 94 other employees work at the Federal Patent Court - thereof 28 judges and 64 female employees (as of 2018).

Presidents and Vice Presidents

President of the Federal Patent Court
No. Surname Beginning of the term of office Term expires
1 Ulrich Weiss July 1, 1961 Nov 30, 1966
2 Werner Jungbluth June 19, 1967 May 31, 1971
3 Rudolf Neumar 18th July 1971 April 15, 1972
4th Ernst Karl Pakuscher Oct 18, 1972 August 1986
5 Elisabeth Steup Sept. 1, 1986 May 31, 1992
6th Antje Sedemund Driver June 1, 1992 March 31, 2001
7th Hans-Georg Landfermann July 1, 2001 April 28, 2006
8th Raimund Lutz May 2, 2006 Dec 31, 2010
9 Beate Schmidt May 1, 2011
Vice President of the Federal Patent Court
No. Surname Beginning of the term of office Term expires
1 Karl Kaiser July 1, 1961 June 30, 1965
2 Adolf Brösamle July 29, 1966 July 31, 1969
3 Hermann Köttgen August 1969 December 31, 1974
4th Erich guest January 1975 April 30, 1978
5 Karl-Heinz Leise May 1978 January 31, 1984
6th Gerhard Bühler 1st February 1984 April 30, 1987
7th Hans Engelhardt May 1987 May 31, 1991
8th Norbert Haugg June 1991 July 31, 1995
9 Hansjörg Schnegg December 22, 1995 January 30, 2004
10 Bernd Tödte May 5, 2004 September 30, 2009
11 Klaus Strößner July 2010

Official costume

Robe at the Federal Patent Court

The official costume for the judges and the clerks at the Federal Patent Court was determined by the order of the Federal President about the official costume at the Federal Patent Court .

The official costume consists of an official robe and a beret . A wide white collar with drooping ends is worn with the black official robe, with the exception of clerks who wear a simple white collar. The trimmings on the official robe and beret depend on the function. For judges, the trim is made of steel-blue velvet and for the notary staff, the trim is made of steel-blue wool. The President of the Federal Patent Court wears two gold strings on his beret. The Vice President and Senate Presidents wear a string of gold.

Notwithstanding the order, the beret is not used in everyday court life. In addition, instead of the white neck tie with drooping ends, a white tie is often worn.

literature

  • Achim Bender (Hrsg.), Klaus Schülke (Hrsg.), Volker Winterfeldt (Hrsg.): 50 Years of the Federal Patent Court: Festschrift for the 50th anniversary of the Federal Patent Court on July 1, 2011. Heymanns, Cologne 2011, ISBN 3-45-227526 -4

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Head of court - President of the Federal Patent Court - Beate Schmidt , Federal Patent Court
  2. ↑ Federal Patent Court Annual Report 2017. (PDF) In: bundespatentgericht.de. The President of the Federal Patent Court, March 2018, accessed on January 15, 2019 (German, English).
  3. ↑ Change of staff at the Federal Patent Court. Beate Schmidt follows Raimund Lutz. Federal Patent Court, May 3, 2011, accessed on July 10, 2014 (press release): "With a ceremony in Munich, Federal Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger today passed the previous President of the Federal Patent Court Raimund Lutz and introduced Beate Schmidt as the new President."
  4. ↑ Dr. Klaus Strößner new Vice President of the Federal Patent Court. Federal Patent Court, September 29, 2010, accessed on July 10, 2014 (press release): "The physicist Klaus Strößner was introduced to the office of Vice President of the Federal Patent Court on September 29, 2010."
  5. ↑ Electronic mail room. Federal Patent Court, accessed on July 10, 2014 .
  6. ↑ Annual report 2018. Federal Patent Court, accessed on June 22, 2020 .
  7. ^ Order of the Federal President on the official costume at the Federal Patent Court. (pdf) In: Laws on the Internet. Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection , juris GmbH , accessed on July 10, 2014 .

Web links

Commons : Federal Patent Court  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 48 ° 5 ′ 30 ″  N , 11 ° 36 ′ 5 ″  E