Patent procedure
German Patent Office calls for more staff
The German Patent Office cannot keep up with the processing of patent procedures. On average, companies have to wait five years for their patents. The President of the office, Cornelia Rudloff-Schäffer, therefore believes that Germany's innovative strength is at risk.
"We are facing a mountain of more than 200,000 open patent examination procedures," said Cornelia Rudloff-Schäffer on February 13, 2018, adding that each patent examiner has up to 300 open procedures. Rudloff-Schäffer is calling for more staff: "We need 200 additional examiner positions to manage day-to-day business and to work through the open procedures. We also need 100 positions for trade mark examination and in our IT departments." Patent procedures should also be streamlined and made more efficient.
The President believes that Germany's innovative strength is at risk. Companies have to wait an average of five years for a patent - "That is far too long," criticizes the head of the authority. The protection of intellectual property plays far too small a role in the public debate on promoting innovation. This is where the future federal government has a role to play. The ministries of economics, justice and research must pull together.
Rudloff-Schäffer is increasingly concerned about competition from China, where many more patents are registered than in Germany: "The Chinese are pursuing a very aggressive strategy to become the global innovation leader." We have to react to this.
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