GPTO: Annual Report 2013

The world’s fifth largest national Patent and Trademark Office (GPTO) contributes greatly to the protection of technical and industrial innovations in Germany. This protection is of upmost importance for companies. The GPTO grants, registers and administers the industrial property rights, e.g. patents, utility models, trademarks and designs in Germany. But, it also provides information to the public. Therefore, the GPTO has just published its annual report 2013, which includes information and statistics regarding all IP rights.     Patents  After the decline in applications during the financial crisis, in 2013 a high level of filing activity was again reached. Therefore, the applications filed at the GPTO increased to more than 63.000. Most of the patent applications were filed in the sectors: vehicles in general, engineering elements or units and basic electric elements. The ten most active national and foreign companies and institutions are: Robert Bosch GmBH (4.144 applications), Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co KG (2.100 applications), Daimler AG (1.854 applications), Siemens AG (1.784 applications), GM Global Technology Operations LCC (1.289 applications), Bayrische Motoren Werke AG (1.182 applications), Ford Global Technologies LLC (1.060 applications), Audi AG (1.027 applications), Volkswagen AG (836 applications), ZF Friedrichshafen AG (708 applications).   Trademarks Trademark filings have also slightly increased over the previous year (see below). The applications include 60.161 national applications and 4.805 requests for the extension of protection based on international registrations. A similar picture is given for Community Trademarks, which are examined by the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM). In 2013, 20.035 applications filed at OHIM originated from Germany, compared to 20.050 in 2012. Accordingly, the ratio of German trademarks to Community Trademarks filed by German applicants was 75:25. This suggests a strong export orientation of German companies towards the European Union. Among the big European countries (Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Spain) only the UK has a similar ratio of national applications to applications for Community Trademarks. The trademark applications 2013 are mostly in the fields of class 41 (Education, sporting and cultural activities), class 35 (advertising, business management) and class 9 (electrical apparatus and instruments). The ten largest trademark filers at the GPTO in 2013 were: Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH (138 applications), Deutsche Telekom AG (84 applications), Vodafone GmbH (67 applications), VOLKSWAGEN AG (60 applications), Daimler AG (59 applications), Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft e.V. (58 applications), Henkel AG & Co. KGaA (58 applications), Merck KGaA (55 applications), Bayer Intellectual Property GmbH (44 applications).     Designs In 2013, also an increase of design applications could be observed. The GPTO received 6.388 applications (2012: 6.330) covering 55.829 (2012: 53.133) designs. The number of designs filed increased by 1.3%, - the applications by 0.9%. Furnishing, Textile piecegoods, artificial and natural sheet material as well as graphic symbols and logos, surface patterns and ornamentation were the main sectors.     Click on the following links to be redirected to the GPTO’s website for the full Annual 2013 Report in English. http://www.dpma.de/docs/service/veroeffentlichungen/jahresberichte_en/dpma_annualreport2013.pdf