Content

Notice of 26 March 2019

concerning the entry into force of the Ordinance Amending the DPMA Ordinance and the Ordinance on Electronic Legal Transactions with the German Patent and Trade Mark Office of 10 December 2018

The Ordinance Amending the DPMA Ordinance and the Ordinance on Electronic Legal Transactions with the German Patent and Trade Mark Office of 10 December 2018 (Federal Law Gazette I, p. 2444; Blatt für Patent-, Muster- und Zeichenwesen 2019, p. 37) entered into force on 1 April 2019.

The amendments to the Ordinance on Electronic Legal Transactions with the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (Ordinance on Electronic Legal Transactions with the DPMA) will enable the DPMA beyond the existing possibilities to accept electronic documents with a signature and without a signature:

  • Sec. 1 of the Ordinance on Electronic Legal Transactions with the DPMA provides – subject to substantive formal requirements – the possibility of submitting all documents in IP procedures electronically and with a signature.
  • Sec. 2(1), no. 1b of the Ordinance on Electronic Legal Transactions with the DPMA enables an application for in-ternational registration in accordance with Article 3 of the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks to be filed electronically and without a signature in trade mark procedures.

In the DPMA Ordinance, in addition to changes due to legal form and system, changes are made to the content which reflect the existing practice of the DPMA:

  • Sec. 16 of the DPMA Ordinance clarifies that identification numbers shall only be used if the forms issued by the DPMA provide for this.
  • The amendment to Sec. 28(4) of the DPMA Ordinance extends the obligation to use forms provided by the DPMA and clarifies in which cases the registered right holder is to be granted a right to be heard when a transfer of rights is registered.

The Ordinance is printed in the Federal Law Gazette.

1031 – 4.3.2/2018-3

Last updated: 21 March 2024