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Notice No. 5/2024

of the President of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office of 25 November 2024 regarding the participation of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office in the service WIPO DAS as Depositing Office

From 25 November 2024 on, the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA) will participate in the Digital Access Service of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO DAS) as "Depositing Office". WIPO DAS is a digital exchange service for priority documents. Initially, the participation will involve the IP rights "patent" and "utility model" and cover priority documents for national applications as well as PCT applications in cases where the DPMA is the Office of first filing. The service is planned to be extended to the IP rights "trade mark" and "design" at a later date.

As of 25 November 2024, applicants have a choice when applying for priority documents for patent or utility model applications: they can either apply for a priority document in paper form (subject to the payment of a fee, as before) or they can ask the DPMA to make the priority document available electronically in WIPO DAS (free of charge). The request for providing an electronic priority document and making it available in WIPO DAS has to be made via Form A 9164.

The DPMA then notifies the applicant of the provision of the priority document in the WIPO DAS system and sends them a confidential access code. With this access code, the applicant can request other Offices of second filing (that participate in WIPO DAS as "Accessing Offices") worldwide to retrieve the priority document.

More information about WIPO DAS, in particular the form A 9164 as well as other forms and leaflets is provided on the DPMA website from 25 November 2024 on. For further information, please visit the externer Link website of WIPO.

The DPMA intends to participate in WIPO DAS as "Accessing Office" as well. The preparations for this are currently underway. The DPMA will issue a separate notification about this participation.

The President of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office
Eva Schewior

Last updated: 25 November 2024