Prepare the utility model application documents which include

- a written description (to allow others to see how the invention works)

- drawings (to illustrate your invention)

- claims (precise legal statements in the form of single sentences to define the technical features).

Fill in and file the utility model application form “Antrag auf Erteilung eines Gebrauchsmusters” together with two copies of the claims, the description, the drawings, if any, on separate sheets.

Applications can also be filed in a language other than German. In that case, however, a German translation must be submitted within a period of three months after filing.

Applicants having neither a domicile nor an establishment in the Germany must appoint a patent attorney or an attorney at law in Germany as representative. This representative may also be a national of a member State of the European Union or of a State party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, provided that a patent attorney or attorney-at-law, resident in Germany, has been authorised to receive service of official communications. 

We will send you a receipt containing the official file number and the filing date of your application.

If you have appointed a representative, the receipt will be sent to your representative.

If the filing fee has been paid, we will examine your application to see if it has formal defects and if the invention is, on principle, eligible for utility model protection.  

If your application complies with the above requirements, the utility model will be recorded in the Utility Model Register.

Utility model rights are registered without a substantive examination.

The registration is published on the electronic publication platform DPMApublikationen .

The utility model specification (claims, description, drawings) is also published in the Patent Gazette .

More information is available at “Information for Utility Model Applicants” and “Ordinance Implementing the Utility Model Law” .