German trademark filing with the DPMA

Additional charges

The €45 fee covers forwarding the original official communication, providing a translation where required under your firm’s language preferences, and recording and monitoring the deadline. If the communication contains an office objection, the fee also includes a brief initial assessment of that objection and an estimate for further work. Detailed legal analysis and the drafting or review of a response require a separate agreement.

The €85 fixed fee covers filing a response supplied by your firm in final form, ready for submission to the office. We submit the response as supplied or copy it onto our letterhead without changing its content. The fee does not include drafting, reviewing or substantively amending the response. Any such work requires separate instructions and a separate fee agreement. The fixed fee takes precedence over hourly billing and carries no additional document fee.

All professional fees are exclusive of VAT, which is added where applicable.

Services requiring separate instructions

• Detailed analysis of office objections and drafting, reviewing or substantively amending responses.
• Representation in opposition proceedings.

The German trademark registration procedure

1. 1

   Your firm submits instructions

   Your firm instructs us through the Filing Portal or an agreed API integration. After submitting your instructions, you can request an email confirming their submission. This does not confirm acceptance of the engagement, which we confirm separately before filing. We communicate with your instructing firm; your client remains the applicant and your firm’s client.

2. 2

   Formal review and translation

   We check the application details and documents for formal requirements. Where needed, we translate the goods and services specification into German. Translation of the specification is charged at €10 per class. When translating, we aim to use harmonised, pre-accepted goods and services terms wherever they accurately reflect your firm’s intended scope of protection. This helps speed up examination and reduces the risk of objections to the wording or classification.

3. 3

   Filing with the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA)

   Once the documents are complete and consistent and any required translations are ready, we file the application. We usually file within one to two working days of receiving instructions, provided the necessary information is complete. Please agree any urgent filing date with us in advance.

4. 4

   Filing receipt and application number

   Immediately after electronic filing, the DPMA provides a submission receipt and the application number, which we send to your firm. In our experience, a further official filing confirmation follows after about three days; we forward this as well. These office processing times may vary.

5. 5

   Examination by the office

   Examination begins once the official application fee has been paid. The office examines the formal requirements and absolute grounds for refusal, such as a lack of distinctive character. This examination does not replace a trademark availability or similarity search.

6. 6

   Office objections: your firm chooses the response

   If the office raises an objection, we send your firm the original communication and a translation where required under your firm’s language preferences. For a communication setting a deadline, the €45 handling fee includes recording and monitoring the deadline, a brief initial assessment of the objection and an estimate for further work. You choose the support required. We can file a response supplied by your firm in final form for €85, without drafting, reviewing or substantively amending it. Alternatively, you can separately instruct us to review your draft or to analyse the objection and prepare a response. Detailed legal analysis, review and drafting require a separate agreement. Where you instruct us to prepare a response, we propose the next steps and, where appropriate, provide a draft for approval.

7. 7

   Registration, certificate and opposition period

   If the requirements are met and any deficiencies have been resolved, the DPMA registers the trademark and publishes the registration. We send your firm the registration report and a scan of the certificate. We retain the original and can forward it on request for €25. The three-month opposition period begins after publication of the registration. Receiving a registration report therefore does not mean that no further opposition can be filed.

8. 8

   Completion and continued representation

   If registration is completed and no opposition has been filed within the opposition period, the initial filing assignment is complete. If an opposition is filed, we report it to your firm and agree the next steps and any additional work separately. We report the outcome, including whether the registration is maintained in full, maintained for only some goods or services, or cancelled in full. We remain recorded as representative after completion of the initial assignment. No recurring fee is charged solely for remaining on record. Subsequent official communications are handled at the stated rates. Renewal monitoring, reminders and renewal filings are provided only if separately agreed. Any change of representative is arranged separately.

Protection for ten years from filing

For German trademarks the ten-year term is calculated from the application’s filing date. Protection can be renewed for further ten-year periods. Renewal instructions and the applicable fees are agreed separately.

Grace period and proof of use

German trademarks are subject to a five-year grace period before non-use can have the consequences described below. Genuine use must relate to Germany. The five-year period begins on the day after the opposition period expires. If an opposition has been filed, it begins when the decision concluding the opposition proceedings becomes legally final or the opposition is withdrawn. There is no requirement to submit evidence of use proactively or at regular intervals to the DPMA. The office does not routinely check use. After the grace period, proof of genuine use may be required if a third party formally challenges use, for example by applying for revocation for non-use or raising a non-use defence in opposition proceedings. In revocation proceedings, the registration may be cancelled for the goods or services for which genuine use during the relevant five-year period is not established, unless there are proper reasons for non-use. A non-use defence in opposition proceedings can instead prevent reliance on the trademark for the goods or services concerned; it does not itself cancel the registration. It is therefore sensible to retain dated evidence of use in Germany, such as invoices, catalogues, advertising materials and product or packaging images, showing the goods or services concerned and the nature, period and extent of use.