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Trademark protection; registration of a trademark

Trademarks that serve to distinguish the goods and services of one company from those of other companies can be protected as a trademark at the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA).

Online services & Forms

Online services

  • DPMAdirektWeb - Signaturfreie Online-Markenanmeldung
    You can apply for a trademark online.
  • DPMAdirektPro - Elektronischer Rechtsverkehr beim DPMA

    The DPMAdirektPro program enables you to file a legally effective IP application online and to file electronic documents for applications online. The data required for the applications are requested in clearly arranged screen masks and automatically converted into the data format required by the DPMA. The required DPMAdirektPro software is provided free of charge on the download page.

  • Marken - Formulare und weitere Unterlagen

Responsible for you

Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt

Street address

Zweibrückenstraße 12
80331 München

Postal address

Zweibrückenstraße 12

80331 München

Email

info@dpma.de

Website

www.dpma.de

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Procedure details

A trademark generally serves to identify the goods and/or services of a company. Signs that are capable of distinguishing the goods and/or services of one company from those of other companies are eligible for protection. These can be, for example, words, letters, numbers, images, but also colors, movements, holograms, multimedia signs and sounds.

Trademark protection is obtained by registering a trademark in the register of the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA). To do this, you must register the trademark. However, trademark protection can also arise if a sign is used intensively in business transactions or is generally known. However, signs that lack any distinctive character or those that merely describe the goods or services in question (for example, the word "apples" for the product "fruit") are excluded from protection.

In addition to the classic individual trademark, there are two special trademark categories: The collective mark and the certification mark.

  • In contrast to the classic trademark, which distinguishes the goods and/or services of a specific company from those of other companies (individual trademark), a collective trademark indicates the origin of a product from an association. Accordingly, it is used by the members of the association. The owner of the collective mark is the respective association with legal capacity.
  • Guarantee marks are used to indicate certain independently guaranteed characteristics of the goods/services. They can also be used by several companies. The owner of a certification mark can be any natural or legal person. The prerequisite is that this person has not manufactured the goods themselves, traded in them or offered them as a service.

The respective conditions of use are laid down in a collective or certification mark statute.

All of the above-mentioned trademark types can be registered as collective and certification marks. When you register a trademark, you acquire the sole right to use the trademark for the protected goods and services. You can sell or dispose of this trademark at any time or grant a right of use, a so-called trademark license, to your trademark.

A trademark can be renewed indefinitely. However, it will be deleted from the register if you no longer pay the renewal fee, which is due after every 10 years.

If you want to register an IP right, you can do this yourself. However, you can also seek help from a patent attorney or attorney-at-law. If you live outside Germany and have neither a registered office nor a branch here, you must be represented by a lawyer or patent attorney licensed in Germany.

  • All signs, in particular words, letters, numbers, illustrations, but also colors and color combinations, movements, holograms, multimedia signs, sounds and three-dimensional designs, including the shape of a product or its packaging, as well as other presentations that are capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one company from those of others can be protected as trademarks.
  • There are no absolute grounds for refusing registration of the trademark, such as
    • lack of distinctiveness,
    • descriptive indications that are to be kept free for general use,
    • a clear risk of being misleading,
    • a national emblem contained in the trademark or
    • a violation of public morality or public order.
  • If you do not live in Germany and have neither a registered office nor a branch in Germany, you need a lawyer or patent attorney licensed in Germany to represent you.

  • Required Documents
    • Application for entry of a trademark in the register
    • information allowing the identity of the applicant to be established
    • Representation of the mark as well as information on the form of the mark
    • list of goods and/or services for which registration is requested

You can apply for the registration of a trademark in writing or electronically. If you would like to apply for registration in writing:

  • Download the form "Application for entry of a trade mark in the register" online, print and complete it and attach the required documents.
  • Submit the application documents to the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA)
  • You will then receive a confirmation of receipt with the official file number.
  • Pay the application fee within 3 months of filing the application without being requested to do so.
  • The DPMA will then examine whether your trade mark can be registered.
  • You may be asked to submit a statement and to complete the application.
  • If all requirements are met, the trade mark will be registered and you will receive the registration certificate with the corresponding extract from the register.
  • Trademark protection begins on the date of registration.
  • The registration is also published in the official electronic trademark gazette.
  • Trademark protection ends 10 years after the end of the month in which the application date falls. You can extend the protection for 10 years as often as you like for a fee.
  • If the examination reveals that there are obstacles to your application being registered, you will receive a written objection. If these objections cannot be dropped after your comments have been examined, the application will be refused by means of a decision (possibly in part). You can have this decision reviewed again by means of a reminder or appeal procedure, which is subject to a fee.

If you wish to apply for registration electronically:

  • You can file your request via the "DPMAdirektWeb" service, it is then valid without signature and without electronic signature. You will be guided through the application in just a few steps.
  • If you want to provide your application with a qualified electronic signature, you can use the free "DPMAdirektPro" service.
  • You will need
    • a signature card with the corresponding card reader,
    • the "DPMAdirektPro" application software to create and validate the application documents.
  • Transfer the application fee without being requested to do so
  • You will then receive a confirmation of receipt with the official file number.

The DPMA will then check whether your trade mark can be registered.

  • Electronic registration for up to 3 classes: EUR 290.00
  • Paper registration for up to 3 classes: EUR 300.00
  • for each additional class (class fee): EUR 100.00
  • Application for accelerated examination: EUR 200.00
  • Application fee for a collective or certification mark: EUR 900.00
  • Renewal fee including the class fee for up to three classes: EUR 750.00
  • Renewal fee for collective and certification mark: EUR 1800.00
  • Class fee for renewal (for each class from the fourth class onwards): EUR 260.00
  • Opposition proceedings, basic fee for one opposition mark: EUR 250.00
  • Opposition proceedings, fee for each additional opposition sign: EUR 50.00

  • Payment of the application fee and any class fees: within 3 months of receipt of the application
  • Payment of the fee for accelerated examination: within 3 months of filing the application
  • Opposition to registration: within 3 months of publication of the registration
  • Payment of the renewal fee: at the beginning of the 11th year of protection

In the case of an application for accelerated examination: Application is given priority, if necessary registration after a few working days, but in principle no later than 6 months after application (4 months)

The DPMA examines your trade mark application for absolute grounds for refusal. However, it does not check whether your trade mark infringes the IP rights of third parties and whether it already exists in an identical or similar form. You should therefore research whether the desired trade mark infringes the rights of third parties before applying for a trade mark. Otherwise, an opposition may be filed against your trademark before the DPMA and it may have to be canceled. In addition, action can be taken against your trademark with a warning letter or with legal action before civil courts.

  • Reminder: You can lodge a reminder against the decision to refuse registration of a trademark. The decision will then be re-examined by a second person.
  • Appeal (proceedings before the Federal Patent Court): You can have a decision to refuse registration of a trademark reviewed by the Federal Patent Court within one month of service of the refusal decision by lodging an appeal.
  • Opposition by third parties: Within a period of 3 months after the date of publication of the registration of a trademark, the owner of an earlier, similar trademark right or a business name, for example, can file an opposition against the registration of the trademark,
  • Revocation, invalidity and cancellation: Trademarks can be canceled upon request due to invalidity or revocation - or because the trademark owner renounces them.

  • Design protection; registration of a design

    Designs that are new and have individual character can be protected as a registered design at the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA).

  • Apply for patent

    Technical inventions that are new, inventive and industrially applicable can be protected as patents at the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA).

  • Inspect the DPMA register

    If you need information on the current legal and procedural status of patents, utility models or trade marks, you can carry out online searches in the "DPMAregister" service.

Status: 27.02.2025
Editorially responsible for prodecure description: Bundesministerium der Justiz und für Verbraucherschutz
Source: Federal Portal
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