If the application fee, the fee for the search request or the fee for the examination request is not paid within three months after receipt of the application or of the request, the application or the search request or the examination request, as the case may be, is deemed to be withdrawn.

Processing of the application, search request or examination request shall begin only after the filing fee or the request fee has been paid.

Please note that, apart from the receipt, no notes on fees will be sent out.

The mere filing of an application does not automatically result in a substantive examination. This examination must be requested separately.

The following fee must be paid:

• if a search request has been filed: 150 EUR

• if no search request has been filed: 350 EUR

The period for the payment of the fee for the examination request ends upon expiry of seven years from the filing of the application, at the latest. If the examination request is not filed within the legal time limit of seven years from the date of filing the application, and the fee for the examination request is not paid within that period, the application is deemed to be withdrawn.

A full list of fees can be found at "Information concerning Costs, Fees and Expenses of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office and the Federal Patent Court" .

-

The applicant may request a search of the prior art. The results will serve as a basis for his own assessment of the chances for a patent grant. This request for identifying publications may be submitted by marking the corresponding box on the application form when filing the application, but also at a later date. The DPMA will then identify in the search file of the competent examining section the domestic and foreign publications to be considered in connection with the determination of the patentability of the invention in respect of which the application has been filed. The request is subject to a fee.

-