Our Services Information for you, interaction with you
Do you have any questions about the application procedure, the costs or searches? Whether you are just getting started or are an experienced user of our databases: we are here to support you. You can already find a lot of useful information on our webpages. For individual enquiries, do not hesitate to contact our Customer Care and Services.
We are here for you.
Phone: +49 89 2195 1000
(Mon–Tue 08:00–16:00, Fri 08:00–14:00)
General enquiries: info@dpma.de
Search support: datenbanken@dpma.de
IT support, technical support (DPMAdirekt): dpmadirekt@dpma.de
Our addresses:
Munich: Zweibrückenstraße 12, 80331 München
Berlin: Gitschiner Straße 97, 10969 Berlin
Mailing address: Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt, 80297 München
Make an on-site appointment, call us or write to us. Customer Care and Services is happy to advise you on the correct filing of an IP application or update you on the status of a procedure.
Please note: submissions for pending procedures cannot to be sent by e-mail, as they will have no legal force. Please send them by post or use our secure digital channels via DPMAdirektWeb or DPMAdirektPro, always indicating the file number. This is the only way we can ensure your request is handled in compliance with legal requirements.
In 2025, we provided advice and information in 56,801 cases — a significant increase compared to the previous year.
Customer contacts by communication channel in 2025
Customer enquiries 2025 by topics
Online applications 2025
Design applications 
National patent applications
National trade mark applications
National utility model applications
DPMAregister and DEPATISnet: both databases are freely accessible at any time online at no charge. You can use them to search for patents, utility models, trade marks and designs. DPMAregister allows you to inspect files and check the legal and procedural status of IP applications. DEPATISnet provides you with an overview of the worldwide state of the art. And with DPMAKurier, you can monitor IP rights and get the results e-mailed to you automatically.
DPMAconnect-Plus enables you to access all official information regarding registration and publication from DPMAregister automatically online as well as to download patent and utility model specifications from the document archive DEPATIS.
DPMAdirektPro/Web are our solutions for legally compliant electronic applications. With DPMAdirektPro, you can apply electronically for patents, utility models, trade marks and designs. DPMAdirektWeb, on the other hand, lets you submit online applications for trade marks and designs as well as international registrations of marks and applications for determination or declaration of invalidity of a registered design.
We provide support for your search by phone or e-mail. In Berlin and Munich, we are also happy to help you on site. Feel free to make an appointment — also at short notice.
All over Germany, we offer free initial consultations for inventors by patent attorneys in cooperation with the Chamber of Patent Attorneys. In Munich and Berlin, these consultations are also offered on the premises of the DPMA. For questions regarding non-technical IP rights, there are also lawyers available.
To make an appointment, please contact Central Customer Care and Services well in advance by phone on +49 89 2195-1000 or e-mail us at info@dpma.de using the subject “Terminvereinbarung – Erfinderberatung in München” (appointment for consultation for inventors in Munich) or “Terminvereinbarung – Erfinderberatung in Berlin” (appointment for consultation for inventors in Berlin), depending on where you want to schedule the appointment. Please visit our webpages for more information.
We regularly offer hands-on seminars to provide basic information on intellectual property to small and medium-sized enterprises in particular, but also to interested individuals, law firms or chambers of industry and commerce. Our aim is to raise awareness for intellectual property and IP rights, to expand people’s knowledge and to create easy access to our databases DPMAregister and DEPATISnet.
In 2025, we introduced two new seminar formats: the “Brown Bag Seminars”, a short format for lunch breaks, and the “Step-by-Step Seminars”, which offer insights into the practical aspects of IP rights and search options.
You can find our current programme for workshops and seminars on our webpages.
Our lecture services gained further traction in 2025 and were in high demand; we also significantly increased their reach. In 2024, we reached more than 500 participants in cooperation with the hosts; in 2025, as many as 1,116 people participated in 29 events, more than twice as many as in the previous year. With an average of around 38 participants per event, the lecture services have established themselves as an effective and scalable format. In lectures, workshops and seminars, the DPMA’s experts relay practical knowledge about patents, trade marks and designs as well as search options and other topics concerning industrial property rights. The lecture services are aimed especially at small and medium sized businesses, start-ups as well as universities, institutions of higher education and schools. They play an important part in raising awareness for the protection of IP rights and at the same time strengthen the DPMA’s visibility and public image.
If you too want to take advantage of our services, be it online or on site, please do not hesitate to contact us (vortragsservice@dpma.de).
Anyone who wants to know more about the services of the DPMA can get information via numerous channels and in different formats — and almost all content is not only provided in German, but also in English. Our webpages as well as our various print publications offer comprehensive information on patents, utility models, trade marks and designs, on geographical indications, copyright and enforcing IP rights. In addition, they highlight search options, our electronic services and interesting events.
Besides our official publications, including announcements, important notices and notices of the President, and essential information on our IP rights, we also offer in-depth articles regarding the protection of industrial property as well as new developments in research and technology. We also issue various newsletters and special publications: for example, our brochure on copyright provides an overview of the most important regulations in Germany, while the publication “erfinden” showcases the role inventions and IP rights play in solving social challenges. And the monthly gazette “Blatt für Patent-, Muster- und Zeichenwesen” covers legal questions, with a special focus on court decisions and notifications regarding representation.
We also have another special feature in store: if you want to explore the world of IP rights and go beyond laws and regulations, you can discover many valuable and fascinating facts in our columns “Milestones” and “Background” on the DPMA website. Here, everyone can find out what the essential purpose of protecting IP rights is. It is definitely worth a closer look!
On our social media channels, we provide targeted, up-to-date and accessible information about the DPMA’s various duties and services. LinkedIn and YouTube in particular allow us to reach many different target groups — from founders to companies to expert circles and the interested public — and to create transparency around the topic of IP rights.
In 2025, we further expanded our reach. With 14,400 followers on LinkedIn, we again achieved a significant growth, and the numbers for our YouTube channel kept increasing with more than 900 subscribers. We consciously provide a broad spectrum of content: besides information about our services and events, posts regarding the prevention of counterfeiting, the Global Innovation Index, the DPMAnutzerforum as well as our new publication “erfinden” are especially popular.
Of course, one particular focus lies on easily understandable expert information and explainer videos — our topics include trade marks, IP strategies and the DPMA’s digital offerings. We want to present complex topics in a clear manner and offer easy access to our services.
Follow us and stay up to date:
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/dpma
YouTube: www.youtube.com/DeutschesPatentundMarkenamtDPMA
We appreciate your interest, the exchange and your connection to the DPMA!
Trade fairs are places of innovation and development. But how well are IP rights and their limits known? At trade fairs, we often see that there is still quite the need for information. What are IP rights, what do they have to do with me and my product and how can I apply for one? The questions are many and very diverse, whether we are on site with a booth or roaming the halls with a mobile team. But always, our presence results in interesting conversations where we can provide individuals and companies with helpful information. At the same time, we counteract counterfeiting and raise awareness for how to deal with fakes — a win-win situation for all. We look forward to meeting you at a trade fair! You can find our current trade fair calendar for the year 2026 here (in German).
Stronger together: we have been collaborating with the patent information centres (PIZ) for many years now. They are our exclusive regional partners and provide valuable information about IP rights and searches at locations all over Germany. In addition, they give advice regarding IP strategies and possible exploitation. To find out more about all their services, which target SMEs, start-ups, founders and institutions of higher education in particular, visit our website.
You are not happy with our service? Let us know and send us your complaint at info@dpma.de or by post. Please note: contacting the complaints management is not a substitute for the required submissions and responses in IP proceedings. To those, the regulations and procedures for the respective IP rights apply. Please make sure to comply with all requirements to avoid any adverse consequences.
Your general written complaints will be assessed together with all the sections involved, and you will receive a response to them. This process often reveals new areas for improvement. Thank you for making us aware of these.
Overview News from the IT services
At the end of the year, the DPMA launched a new interface of its systems DPMAmarken and DPMApatente/gebrauchsmuster with the Federal Archives. Our specialist areas use this interface to submit selected IP case files to the Federal Archives for permanent archiving after the legal retention period for these files has expired and before they are deleted from the DPMA’s database. In particular, we submit files to the Federal Archives when our specialist areas attach great technical importance to them. The content of such files is deemed relevant for the public and, due to its particular technical importance, it is to remain permanently available.
For example, this concerns files relevant to the development of the law, knowledge building and training courses. The same holds true for files containing special court decisions or decisions that can serve as precedents as well as for files of particular technical importance and files relating to innovation prizes and inventions by public figures.
The legal basis for the submission is provided by the Federal Archives Act, which requires federal authorities to offer the Federal Archives documents which they no longer need for the performance of their duties or which they are not permitted to retain any longer. The Federal Archives then determines whether the documents offered are worthy of archiving.
At the end of 2024, with the project “Identity and Access Management”, the DPMA took initial steps towards a modern solution for the electronic communication with the users of its systems. In 2025, the DPMA carried out comprehensive analytical and conceptual works to gain a solid understanding of the current and future requirements for digital services, technical framework conditions and access-related issues. The findings from this form the basis for strategic decisions and the advancement of the DPMA’s digital services.
An important milestone was a survey of users that was conducted to gain insight into the needs and expectations of our users, their perception of the DPMA filing services, the usability and functional range of these services as well as the users’ satisfaction with the technical support.
The analysis of the results revealed a need for modernisation.
The users spoke out for a modern, intuitive, browser-based and operating system-independent web solution as a standard for their daily interaction with the DPMA. They wanted for a user-friendly and uncomplicated software with an easier user guidance to improve flexibility and quality.
Furthermore, the survey respondents rated alternative authentication processes. Thus, we wanted to learn which technically and legally suitable processes enable an easy and accessible user experience.
The findings formed the basis for initiating necessary changes in relevant ordinances and thus for laying the foundations for a new generation of electronic services provided by the DPMA. It is intended to develop them in close consultation with the users.
Since April 2025, DPMAdirektWeb has provided an easy option to subsequently file documents in pending trade mark and design procedures without an electronic signature. Among other things, the function “Nachreichung zu einer Marken- oder Designanmeldung” (subsequent filing concerning a trade mark or design application) enables users to electronically
- reply to a communication or an office action of the DPMA;
- submit additional documents;
- submit new (design) representations;
- amend the application data;
- request priority documents.
To ensure that the subsequent filing is made by the entitled person, they must only indicate the file number of the application and the document reference number (DRN). The DRN is confidential and indicated in the acknowledgement of receipt or confirmation of application which applicants can download upon filing via DPMAdirektWeb.
Subsequent filings concerning documents filed via DPMAdirektPro or by post are not possible in DPMAdirektWeb. They still require the DPMAdirektPro software.
Overview Electronic services
The following e-services are available to our customers:
- Online search of bibliographic data as well as legal and procedural status data
- You can produce an uncertified excerpt from the register yourself
- You can inspect the various parts of a patent case file online
- You can choose between three different search modes: basic, advanced or expert
- NEW: Convenient input of Nice Classification classes for trademark searches and courier monitoring via a selection assistant
- NEW: Convenient input of image classes (Vienna Classification) for trademark searches
- NEW: Once logged in, you can permanently save and retrieve your search favourites from the history of expert searches
- NEW: Convenient input of Locarno classes for design searches
- Document archive with well over 135 million records from about 100 countries, of which almost 60% are available directly as PDFs
- You can conduct online searches for prior art published in patent literature from all over the world
DPMAdirektPro
- Legally valid online filing of applications for all IP rights
- You need special software, which we provide to you free of charge, as well as a qualified signature card
- You can register for the electronic document mailing service
DPMAdirektWeb
- Legally valid online filing of applications for trade marks and designs, as well as international trademark registrations
- Unlike DPMAdirektPro, no signature card or special software is required
- Legal status monitoring of certain IP rights
- You can subscribe to receive IP gazettes/journals by e-mail
- You can submit combinations of applicant/inventor/owner as well as of classification symbols
- NEW: You can choose whether to be informed at your selected delivery interval or only when news/changes occur
- Establishment of an interface, which provides automated access to all official register and publication data from DPMAregister
- You can download patent and utility model documents from the DEPATIS document archive through an interface, Facsimile documents of DE, DD, EP and WO documents as well as optionally the corresponding bibliographic data
- We provide you weekly with the current data and documents of the German IP rights in the form of data packages
- NEW: Link truncation is possible when searching for keywords
- NEW: Additional elements in the results list now include a hierarchy display showing the structure of the parent symbol
- NEW: When searching for IPC symbols, the directory opens directly at the searched location instead of showing a results list
- NEW: The expanded/collapsed state of the search and concordance menu sections is saved, so the same state appears next time you open the browser
- NEW: The sorting of results lists, searches, and the state (expanded/collapsed) of all directory configurations (search, comparison view, and concordance) is saved
- NEW: In directory configurations, clicking “Apply directory configuration” no longer closes the configuration; it remains open
Detailed information on our IT developments and e-services is available on our website.
E-filing of IP applications and
Search