Patent office
A patent office is an authority that grants a natural or legal person a right to intellectual property or a brand name in the form of a patent .
history
The term patent is derived from the Latin patens (open letter, certificate). The first patent law as it is today was enacted in Venice in 1474, followed by the Statute of Monopolies in Great Britain (1623) and France (1787).
In the course of industrialization in England around 1800 there was increasing demand for the protection of trade . This requirement was met with the granting of patents. On the one hand, it should motivate inventors to present their inventions to the public and put them in their service; on the other hand, it should give inventors protection of their trade from abuse by others.
National patent offices
Germany
The German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA; formerly German Patent Office ), based in Munich and with offices in Jena and Berlin, is responsible for German patents . The DPMA leads out about the registration of utility models , trademarks , industrial designs (Designs), semiconductor topographies and supplementary protection certificates by.
In the GDR there was the Office for Inventions and Patents of the GDR from 1950 to 1990 , which merged with the German Patent Office in 1990.
Austria
The Austrian Patent Office is the national central authority for industrial property protection in Austria , based in Vienna . It is responsible for patents , utility models , trademarks , samples (designs), semiconductor topography and applications for protection certificates . The patent office also offers the public information on industrial property rights and training courses.
Switzerland
The patent office for Switzerland (and Liechtenstein , which forms a uniform protected area with Switzerland based on the Swiss-Liechtenstein patent protection treaty of December 22, 1978) is the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IGE) in Bern (Stauffacherstrasse 65). Contrary to the legal situation in Germany and Austria, Switzerland does not recognize any utility models. The patents registered with the IPI have been registered since 1996 without a preliminary examination for novelty and inventive step (not obvious) and can therefore be checked at any time in judicial proceedings for their protectability. However, there is the option of voluntary research on the state of the art.
Regional patent offices
Europe (EPO)
The European Patent Office (EPO) is an organ of the European Patent Organization, which was established by the European Patent Convention of October 5, 1973. The patent office has its seat in Munich, a branch in The Hague , offices in Berlin-Kreuzberg and Vienna and an EU liaison office in Brussels . The official languages are English, German and French.
Eurasia (EAPO), Africa (ARIPO, OAPI), Asia (Gulf Cooperation Council)
The Eurasian Patent Office (EAPA) is an organ of the Eurasian Patent Organization, which was established by the Eurasian Patent Convention of March 12, 1993. The agreement is currently effective for nine former republics of the former Soviet Union (not for the Baltic states, Ukraine and Uzbekistan). The office is based in Moscow .
In Africa there are two regional patent offices that issue regional patents, which are historically derived from the former British and French domains ( ARIPO , African Regional Industrial Property Organization; Treaty of Lusaka 1976, Central Authority in Harare, 16 member states, and OAPI , Organization Africaine de la Propriété Intellectual, most importantly now the 1999 revised Bangui Convention, central authority in Yaounde, 15 member states).
The Gulf Cooperation Council also has a regional patent system for five countries bordering the Persian Gulf , which has been granting regional patents since 1998.
See also
- World Intellectual Property Organization
- Federal Patent Court (Germany)
- Federal Patent Court (Switzerland)
literature
- Reichspatentamt (Ed.): The Reichspatentamt 1877-1927 . Review of his development and work. Heymann, Berlin 1927 ( several PDF files [accessed April 3, 2009]).
Web links
- German Patent and Trademark Office
- Austrian Patent Office
- Federal Institute for Intellectual Property (Swiss Patent Office)
- Links to the worldwide patent offices by region
- European Patent Office
- Fraunhofer Patent Office for German Research (PST)
- Online search in the database of the European Patent Office