The German Patent and Trade Mark Office has been contacted by a number of applicants and holders of IP rights. The clients had received allegedly official invitations to pay from private firms for the entry of their IP titles in publications or private registers. The accompanying letters regularly convey the impression that the recipients must pay the requested amount. Frequently, the letters contain details such as the file number or the application or registration dates. Sometimes, print-outs of the official gazettes (Markenblatt, Geschmacksmusterblatt, Patentblatt) are attached.
The DPMA would like to remind all customers that the registration of or changes in relation to IP rights are published ex officio and that official fees are collected exclusively by the German Patent and Trade Mark Office, as a rule in advance. Payment forms issued by other senders should be examined carefully. The DPMA has repeatedly filed criminal charges for fraud. To our regret, it is difficult to sue these firms, since the invitations to pay are usually posted abroad and new senders tend to appear.
IP applications:
The German Patent and Trade Mark Office points out that effective IP protection is only achieved by filing an IP application with the German Patent and Trade Mark Office or with another authority of intellectual property protection.
Official fees charged in connection with an IP right in the procedure before the German Patent and Trade Mark Office must be paid exclusively to the account indicated by the German Patent and Trade Mark Office.
The following companies, in particular, are unrelated to duties and services of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office:
Renewals of IP rights:
IP rights can be renewed by timely direct payment of the respective renewal fee/ annual fee to the account of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office. See http://www.dpma.de/docs/service/formulare_eng/allgemein_eng/a9510_1.pdf for information on the amount of the renewal fee/annual fee.
The following companies, in particular, have not been commissioned or authorized by the German Patent and Trade Mark Office:
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has issued a warning concerning - partially misleading - services, requests for payment and invoices unrelated to WIPO.
Companies - some of them using similar names to official names of organisations - offer services, against payment, including the publication or registration of IP rights in non-official registers or the renewal of an IP right for WIPO. Some of the services, payment requests or invoices and payment slips, sent by those companies, bear close resemblance to official forms.
Holders of international registrations who received such communication can contact WIPO directly, before signing a reply form or sending any payment, to find out if the communication received is indeed an official communication by WPIO.
© 2010 Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt | Last updated 23.08.2010