Patentanwaltsgesellschaft, Zulassung beantragen

• §§ 3 und 4 Patentanwaltsordnung (PAO) – Recht zur Beratung und Vertretung
• § 52a Patentanwaltsordnung (PAO) – Berufliche Zusammenarbeit
• § 52c – 52m Patentanwaltsordnung (PAO) – Patentanwaltsgesellschaften
• §§ 27 – 29 Wirtschaftsprüferordnung (WiPrO)

If you wish to establish a patent attorney company in the legal form of a GmbH, you must apply for admission as a patent attorney company.

Note: In addition to the GmbH, partner companies, civil law companies, etc. can also be established. Although these must also comply with the professional requirements (in particular Section 52a Patent Attorneys' Act), they do not require authorisation by the competent body.

The partners of a patent attorney company may, like patent attorneys, offer the following activities:

• Advice on inventions, trade marks, designs, know-how, plant variety protection and the like
• Registration of all industrial property rights,
• Prosecution of infringements of industrial property rights (unless representation by attorneys-at-law is required)
• Representation before the German Patent and Trade Mark Office, the Federal Patent Court, the Federal Plant Variety Office and other international intellectual property authorities,
• Representation before the Federal Supreme Court in nullity proceedings.

Single point of contact

For these proceedings you can use the services of the point of single contact. He or she will guide you through the procedure, take care of the correspondence with all the offices responsible for your matter and will be at your side as a competent advisor.

• completed application form, with attachments if applicable
• Copy of the articles of association or certified copy
• Certified copy of the registration certificates of the partners, managing directors, authorised signatories and authorised agents
• Proof of professional liability insurance (minimum insurance sum: EUR 2.5 million for each insured event) or a provisional confirmation of cover in the original.

• It must be a limited liability company whose corporate purpose is the provision of advice and representation in the above-mentioned matters.
• The company must not be involved in associations for the joint practice of the profession.

• The company must be responsibly managed by patent attorneys.
• The managing directors and partners must be exclusively members of the patent attorney association, attorneys-at-law, tax advisors, tax agents, auditors and certified public accountants. In addition, members of the patent attorney profession from certain member states of the European Union or other states may be partners. These must be professionally active in the patent attorney society.
• The majority of the managing directors, where applicable authorised signatories and authorised agents for the entire business operations, must be patent attorneys.
• The majority of the shares and the voting rights must be held by the patent attorneys.
• The independence of the patent attorneys acting as managing directors, authorised signatories or authorised agents must be guaranteed.
• Professional liability insurance with a minimum sum insured of EUR 2.5 million per insured event must have been taken out or a provisional cover note must be available. The annual maximum benefit for all damages caused in an insurance year must amount to at least four times the minimum insurance sum.
• The company name must contain the designation "Patentanwaltsgesellschaft".

Registration fee EUR 1,200.00

You must submit the application for admission to the patent attorney society to the competent office. You can obtain the necessary application form from the competent office.

The Chamber of Patent Attorneys examines whether all requirements for admission have been met. If the result of the examination is positive, you will receive a certificate of admission to the patent attorney society. The admission as a patent attorney company becomes effective upon delivery of the certificate.

several weeks

The legal remedy is governed by Sections 94a et seq. of the German Patent Attorneys Act (PAO) (more details on the procedure in the notification).