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Partners for a strong innovation ecosystem

DPMA President Eva Schewior and WIPO Director General Daren Tang discussed in Munich about how to create awareness for intellectual property and future technologies – Daren Tang: Critical role of Germany in green and digital transformation – Eva Schewior: IP rights are more important than ever to stimulate innovation

Press release of 6 March 2024

Munich. Daren Tang, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and Eva Schewior, President of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA), met in Munich to discuss the collaboration between the two organisations to strengthen the global innovation ecosystem. One of the main topics of the meeting was the commitment of both offices to creating awareness for the vital importance of intellectual property. Moreover, Mr Tang and Ms Schewior exchanged views about the development of future technologies such as artificial intelligence.

“The German Patent and Trade Mark Office is the largest national IP office in Europe and one of the largest national patent offices globally, reflecting the historic position of Germany as an innovation powerhouse and its continued critical role as a source of technology for the green and digital transformation of the European and global economy,” WIPO Director General Tang said.

DPMA is fully committed to its new duty to provide information

DPMA President Schewior stressed the efforts made by the two organisations to create awareness for IP protection: “IP rights are more important than ever if we aim to stimulate innovation and fully exploit its economic potential,” Ms Schewior said. “We are fully committed to spreading this awareness further in our society. At the international level, we support WIPO in its successful work in this regard.” More than two years ago, the DPMA was assigned for the first time with the express statutory mandate to actively provide the public, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, with information on the benefits and limits of the use of IP rights and on their enforcement.

The leaders of WIPO and the DPMA also stressed the good cooperation between the national and international levels: “We look forward to our continued collaboration with DPMA, an important partner for WIPO over many decades, to continue strengthening the global innovation ecosystem,” Daren Tang emphasised. “The DPMA is glad to have WIPO as a competent and effective partner at the international level,” Eva Schewior said. “Many joint projects,” she added, “show that our collaboration is fruitful and efficient and strengthens our many innovative companies and research institutions.”

About WIPO

Based in Geneva, WIPO is the United Nations intellectual property agency. The DPMA is involved in, among other things, various standing working groups of WIPO. The cooperation between the two organisations spans important individual projects as well. Recently, WIPO employed artificial intelligence to assist the DPMA with the translation of millions of Asian patent specifications into English, facilitating search in the context of patent examination and thus enhancing patent quality. This year, the DPMA supports a WIPO study on how small and medium-sized enterprises use IP rights.

The German Patent and Trade Mark Office

Inventiveness and creativity need effective protection. The DPMA is the German centre of expertise for all intellectual property rights – patents, utility models, trade marks and designs. As the largest national patent office in Europe and the fifth largest national patent office in the world, our office stands for the future of Germany as a country of inventors in a globalised economy. Its staff of just under 2,800 at three locations – Munich, Jena and Berlin – provide services to inventors and companies. They implement federal innovation strategies and develop the national, European and international protection systems.

Bilder: DPMA/Ginster

Last updated: 25 April 2024