Content
Statistics around patents, trademarks and Co.
Number of the month: up 102.4 percent
In terms of the number of inventions filed for air cabs and other urban air mobility applications, German companies have recently made a significant leap forward. In 2020, a good 120 inventions by German applicants were published - more than twice as many as in the previous year (+ 102.4 percent). This is shown by a current analysis of the German Patent and Trademark Office, for more information see our press release of December 29, 2021 (in German).
More numbers of the month
Independent inventors’ innovative power was unbroken during the COVID-19 situation. Against the trend, the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA) received even more patent applications from this group in 2020, the year of the crisis, than in the previous year. A total of 2,819 applications meant a 2.8% increase. "Last year, the independent inventors proved to be guarantors of stability at a difficult time,” said DPMA President Cornelia Rudloff-Schäffer. “These figures show once again that crises are often drivers of creative developments."
Press release of 3 November 2021
The library of the DPMA is one of the largest specialised scientific libraries and at the same time the library of the public authorities. Our collection focus is on the natural sciences, technology and industrial property protection. With the holdings of the DPMA-IDZ Berlin and the Jena Sub-Office, our library has more than 993,000 volumes. These include not only books and journals, but also patent documents, dissertations, company publications and standards in electronic and printed form. The magazine at the DPMA headquarters in Munich comprises 25 shelf kilometres. Further stocks are located in our reading rooms and at the Jena and Berlin offices.
Directorate General "Information"
September marks the beginning of a new training year. At the DPMA, too, nine trainees have started this year. We offer training in a total of six occupations. At the moment, 34 trainees are undergoing training at our Munich and Jena sites. We wish them every success and are looking forward to the trainees who will join us in the next few years. The application process for the 2022/23 training year is already underway.
Career
"United in diversity" has been the motto of the European Union since 2000. It also expresses the fact that the many different European languages, cultures and traditions enrich the entire continent. This includes regional specialities in agricultural products and foodstuffs, such as "Nürnberger Lebkuchen", "Spreewälder Gurken" or "Prosciutto di Parma". A total of 1 561 protected geographical indications are registered for this sector, 91 of them from Germany alone.
Recipes for the summer of 2021
MThe electronic case file for patents and utility models was launched about ten years ago. Since then, we have been able to process patent and utility model applications fully electronically from receipt at the DPMA to publication. The complexity of the DPMApatente/gebrauchsmuster system is immense. More than five million program lines (corresponding to about 120,000 closely printed pages of paper) have to be maintained and kept consistent.
Ten years of the electronic IP case file
More than eight out of ten national patents were filed online at the DPMA in 2020: Thus, the online share of national patent applications was 86.9 per cent.
Annual report 2020, pages 52 and 53
Since the first edition in 1966, a total of 305 684 young people have taken part in the "Jugend forscht" competition. This year alone, there were 8,998 participants. Now the 2021 prize winners have also been chosen: Federal Education Minister Anja Karliczek honoured the best MINT talents last weekend at an online award ceremony.
"Jugend forscht"
What about patent applications in the field of digitalisation? According to a recent DPMA analysis, many areas are recording increasing numbers. For example, the number of published applications with effect for Germany in digital communication technology (+ 91.1 per cent) and in computer technology (+ 74.7 per cent) has increased rapidly in the past ten years.
Press release of 30 March 2021
On International Women's Day, we congratulate not only the 221 female patent examiners currently working at the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA), but all women and girls. 221 female patent examiners, that is about 20 percent of the total number of patent examiners. We have set ourselves the goal to significantly increase the share of female examiners and to recruit even more qualified female scientists and engineers.
Carrer pages
Product and brand piracy causes billions of euros in damage in the German mechanical engineering industry alone, and this damage has grown even more in recent years. According to the VDMA study "Product Piracy 2020", the annual damage has now grown to 7.6 billion euros.
Product counterfeiting in the consumer goods sector is also denounced by "Aktion Plagiaurius e.V.", which annually awards a negative prize to manufacturers and retailers of particularly brazen plagiarisms and one-to-one copies.
Aktion Plagiaurius e.V.
At the turn of the year, version 2021.01 of the International Patent Classification (IPC) came into force. Approximately 100 positions were deleted, but almost 1,000 new positions were added. The IPC now consists of 76,422 subdivisions.
The most important changes at a glance: IPC revisions
Pictures: DPMA
Last updated: 30 December 2021
