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The DPMA looks forward to another successful year!

With a challenging year behind us, we are nevertheless looking to the future with confidence: In 2021, the DPMA will be able to fill an additional 169 approved posts at its locations in Munich, Jena and Berlin. In December, the approval of the German Bundestag sent a strong signal about its commitment to strengthening protection of innovation in Germany.

In 2020, we were again able to recruit 63 highly qualified patent examiners despite pandemic-related restrictions. Another four experts now support the exciting IT area and five lawyers have decided to take up varied and challenging roles at the DPMA. Further job applicants have already accepted the offer to join us and start work in 2021.

We want to immediately fill the new posts in the coming year; recruitment campaigns are currently being planned. We are convinced that secure positions and our modern and family-friendly workplace will enable us to attract many highly qualified staff.

In the medium term, we want to use the additional staff resources to shorten the processing times of patent applications and reduce our high workload. However, we will by no means neglect examination quality, which is outstanding on an international scale. Because only patents that are legally secure offer lasting and strong protection for our innovators. We will also strengthen trade mark processing, because the pandemic has accelerated e-commerce and with it the need for trade mark protection for products and services. Trade mark applications, for example, have increased by more than 10 per cent compared to the previous year.

We have known for a long time how important digitised business processes are. Thanks to fully electronic processing of IP procedures, our office has been able to remain fully operational this year as well. We want to further advance digitisation and expand our digital services in 2021. We will efficiently use new technologies, such as machine learning. The changeover to fully electronic administrative work at the DPMA is also progressing.

We would like to thank all of you for your confidence in our services and look forward to continuing working together in the interest of Germany as a location for innovation.

We wish you, your families and teams a joyous and peaceful Christmas and a happy and, above all, healthy 2021!

Yours sincerely,
Cornelia Rudloff-Schäffer
Christine Moosbauer
Ulrich Deffaa

Picture 1 and 2: DPMA, Picture: DPMA

Last updated: 17 December 2020