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Announcement of the termination of the option to file via eOLF, the electronic filing program of the European Patent Office (section 3 (4) sentence 1 of the Ordinance on Electronic Legal Transactions with the DPMA), as of 1 January 2025

22 November 2024

The German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA) announces that, from 1 January 2025, it will no longer be possible to use eOLF, the electronic filing program of the European Patent Office (EPO), to file electronic patent applications with the German Patent and Trade Mark Office. From that date, this filing option will no longer be available within the meaning of section 3 (4) sentence 2 of the Ordinance on Electronic Legal Transactions with the DPMA (Verordnung über den elektronischen Rechtsverkehr beim Deutschen Patent- und Markenamt). This applies to national German patent applications and PCT applications with the DPMA as receiving Office.

The Announcement is based on section 3 (4) sentence 2 of the Ordinance on Electronic Legal Transactions with the DPMA of 1 November 2013 (Federal Law Gazette I, p. 3906; BlPMZ 2013, 378), last amended by Article 2 of the ordinance of 7 February 2022 (Federal Law Gazette I, p. 171; BlPMZ 2022, 77).

Last updated: 13 December 2024