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Patent information centres put to the test - evaluation of the patent information centres in Germany emphasises high level of IP-related services for SMEsren in Deutschland unterstreicht hohes Niveau IP-bezogener Dienstleistungen für KMU

Press release of 15 December 2016

Munich. The German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA) has now, for the first time, evaluated the modified cooperation agreements with the more than 20 patent information centres, which were newly concluded in 2015. These agreements include criteria for assuring quality and the scope of services of the patent information centres.

As long-term regional cooperation partners of the DPMA, the patent information centres have successfully mastered the transition from mere patent libraries to modern IP service providers and offer local access to comprehensive information on IP protection. Cooperation between the DPMA and the patent information centres focuses on the many different demands industry puts on modern providers of services in the field of IP protection. To even better meet these demands, the DPMA had drawn up criteria describing the services to be provided by the patent information centres and integrated them into the cooperation agreements in 2015. On this basis, the portfolio of services of the patent information centres has now been evaluated for the first time.

The evaluation has shown that all patent information centres meet the demands placed on the services they offer to SMEs, both regarding the range of contents and with respect to a high quality level.

"In this way, the patent information centres demonstrate their efficiency and interdisciplinary competence. The DPMA appreciates these proven partnerships and focuses on further expanding cooperation," said Cornelia Rudloff-Schäffer, President of the DPMA, and added: "As neutral all-round service providers in the field of IP protection, the patent information centres offer high-quality support services in a transparent and reliable way, free from conflicts of interests. They are recognised as an active and important partner in Germany's innovation landscape."

To put it in figures: in 2015, the patent information centres hosted over 3,500 initial consultation for inventors by patent attorneys at their premises, conducted about 3,400 commissioned novelty and prior art searches, among others, roughly 800 consultations on strategic IP management as well as organised roughly 500 seminars and events, to mention only the most important evaluation results.

A positive aspect also worth to be mentioned, from the DPMA's point of view, is the strong and important development towards collaboration with those involved in technology transfer and business development as well as with the European partner institutions.

The results of the evaluation confirm that the service portfolios of the patent information centres have been adapted successfully and that the German patent information centres remain important strategic partners of the DPMA despite changed overall conditions.

For further enquiries please contact:

Matthias Knöbel
Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Patentinformationszentren e. V.
c/o Technische Universität Dresden
Patentinformationszentrum
01062 Dresden, Germany
Phone: +49 351 463-32791
Fax: +49 351 463-37136
E-mail: piz@tu-dresden.de

or

German Patent and Trade Mark Office
Technical Information Centre Berlin
Roger A. Hildebrandt
Gitschiner Str. 97
10969 Berlin, Germany
Phone: +49 30 2599-2424
Fax: +49 30 2599-2300
E-mail: roger.hildebrandt@dpma.de

An overview and contact details of all patent information centres are available on the German-language website of the working group of German patent information centres (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Patentinformationszentren) at www.piznet.de. For the scope of services offered by each individual patent information centre, please go to the website of the respective patent information centre.

More information (in German) on the agreed criteria is available here.

The German Patent and Trade Mark Office

The DPMA is the federal centre of expertise in the field of IP protection in Germany. With a staff of over 2,500, it is the largest national IP office in Europe and the fifth largest national patent office in the world. The staff based at locations in Munich, Jena and Berlin grant patents, register trade marks, utility models and designs, and manage these IP rights. In addition, they provide information on IP rights to the public. For more information on the DPMA, please go to https://www.dpma.de.

Last updated: 5 November 2024