Content

Netiquette

Dear users of the social media services of the DPMA,

We are pleased that you are using the social media services of the DPMA and look forward to exchanging ideas and sharing information! Please join the discussions. However, we ask you to follow our netiquette guidelines and to communicate with others in a responsible and respectful way. Otherwise, we reserve the right to delete content, if necessary, and to report it to the respective platform operator.

Respectful behaviour

Please always be fair and polite when posting and do not get personal. Refrain from using insults, slander, defamation and comments with vulgar, violence-glorifying, discriminatory, racist, sexist, hateful and/or unlawful statements or content. Please remember that there is a human being behind every user. Treat other users as you would like to be treated yourself.

Keep to the topic

Remarks and comments should have a factual reference to the topic of the tweet/post. Otherwise, we reserve the right to remove posts if necessary.

Language

The language of the social media channels of the DPMA is German.

Terms of use

The terms of use of the network must be observed and the rights of third parties or copyright must be respected. Posts in the form of advertising, chain letters, junk mail and spam will be removed immediately. We also reserve the right to permanently block users who disseminate such content from using our services. We do not accept any responsibility for the contributions of the users, the responsibility lies with the respective persons themselves.

Citing correctly

Each user is responsible for ensuring that, in his/her post, the rights of third parties are respected and, in particular, that it does not infringe copyright. Citing correctly does not only include the accurate reproduction of what is quoted, but also the correct reference to its source. As for citations, a source or an author must be given and they must be verifiable for readers. Links to external websites should be used sparingly.

Data protection

Please understand that we cannot answer questions publicly for reasons of data protection. If you have any questions, please contact Customer Care and Services of the DPMA: info@dpma.de. For your own protection, do not provide sensitive data in public communication via social media. Please note that the DPMA has no influence on the terms of use of the individual social network services. We expressly point out that the operators of the social network services used by us for communication will permanently store data outside Germany and use them for commercial purposes.

For this reason, we recommend that you carefully check which personal data you make available to social networks. We do not assume any liability for the conduct of the social network operators or of third parties. Information by the DPMA on data protection is available on the page Data protection statement.

We reserve the right to hide/delete posts that do not comply with these principles or legal provisions, if necessary without giving reasons, or to permanently exclude the respective user from the discussion (blocking) in the future. In extreme cases, non-compliance may lead to the initiation of further measures.

In addition to these principles, the terms of use of the respective social network apply.

We thank you for your understanding and look forward to entering into dialogue with you!

Last updated: 7 March 2022