Bundesportal | Apply for recognition as a patent attorney with a professional qualification from the EU, the EEA or Switzerland

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Federal Ministry of Justice

Last update or date of publication

May 8, 2024

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Working as a patent attorney is regulated in Germany. In order to be allowed to work in the profession on a permanent basis without any restrictions, you need to be admitted as a patent attorney. To be admitted, you must meet the qualifications stipulated in the Patent Attorney Regulations.

You can also obtain admission in Germany with a foreign professional qualification as a patent attorney. To do so, you must submit an application for "determination of equivalence" to the German Patent and Trade Mark Office.

You can apply for the procedure at the German Patent and Trade Mark Office if you have acquired your professional qualification in a country of the European Union (EU), the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland. You must also be authorized to work as a patent attorney in this country.

If you obtained your professional qualification in another country (third country), it must have been recognized in a country of the EU, the EEA or Switzerland.

If the German Patent and Trade Mark Office has recognized your professional qualification, you can apply for admission as a patent attorney. This is a different procedure.

You can also apply for a determination of equivalence from abroad.

Curriculum vitae in tabular form with details of education and professional experience
Proof of your professional qualification as a patent attorney:
- If the profession is not regulated in your country of origin: Proof that the training is regulated.
- If the profession and training are not regulated in your country of origin: Proof that the profession and training are not regulated. And proof that you have worked as a patent attorney for at least 1 year in the last 10 years before submitting your application.
Proof that you have completed more than half of the minimum training period in an EU or EEA member state or in Switzerland.
If you have completed less than half of the training period in an EU, EEA or Swiss country: Proof that you have worked as a patent attorney in the EU, the EEA or Switzerland for at least 3 years.
If your training certificate does not originate from the EU, the EEA or Switzerland, but was recognized there: Proof that you have worked in this profession in the country for at least 3 years. The profession must be regulated in the country.
Proof of professional experience and further training
Have you already applied for an equivalence assessment or taken an aptitude test in Germany? If so, please also submit a copy of the application or the decision.

The German Patent and Trade Mark Office will tell you which documents you need to submit in the original or as a certified copy.

You must submit your CV and the declaration of previous applications in German. The German Patent and Trade Mark Office will inform you whether the other documents need to be translated.

Label

Preconditions

You want to work as a patent attorney in Germany.
You have a professional qualification as a patent attorney from an EU, EEA or Swiss state.
If your professional qualification does not come from an EU, EEA or Swiss state:
- The professional qualification must have been recognized in one of these states. The profession must be regulated in the country.
- You must have worked as a patent attorney for at least 3 years in the country of recognition.

Hints

Partial access to the profession

Your professional qualification is not equivalent and the differences are too great? Then you may be able to work in the profession with partial access to the profession. You can apply for partial access to the profession at the German Patent and Trade Mark Office.

The following applies with partial access to the profession:

You may only carry out certain activities as a patent attorney in Germany.
You may only use the professional title of your country of training.

You must meet the following requirements for partial access:

Your professional qualification is not equivalent to the German professional qualification. The main differences are very large. In this case, a compensation measure covers the entire German training.
Your activities can be clearly separated from other activities of patent attorneys in Germany.
You have been admitted to the patent bar by the Chamber of Patent Attorneys.

Establishment of European patent attorneys in Germany

You can also work to a limited extent as a patent attorney without being admitted to the patent bar.

Are you established as a patent attorney in another EU or EEA member state or in Switzerland? Then you can be admitted to the Chamber of Patent Attorneys in Germany. The profession must be regulated in that country.
You may then work under the professional title of your country of origin in the field of foreign and international industrial property protection.

You apply for admission to the Chamber of Patent Attorneys in a different procedure. The Chamber of Patent Attorneys will inform you.

Freedom to provide services

Do you only want to offer services as a patent attorney in Germany occasionally and for a short time? Then you do not need recognition. You must fulfill these requirements:

You must be established in another EU or EEA member state or in Switzerland.
You must first register with the Chamber of Patent Attorneys. The Chamber of Patent Attorneys will inform you of the exact requirements.
You may only use the professional title of the country in which you are established.

Procedure for ethnic German repatriates

As a late repatriate, you can go through the recognition procedure either according to the law mentioned here or according to the Federal Expellees Act. You can decide for yourself. The German Patent and Trade Mark Office will advise you on which procedure is right for you.

The application for determination of equivalence is free of charge.
Advance payment
no
If you have to take an aptitude test, you will incur costs of 650 euros. Additional costs may also be incurred (e.g. for translations and notarization of your documents). These costs vary from person to person.
Fee
650.00 EUR
Advance payment
no

Basis for legal action

§ 1 Gesetz über die Tätigkeit europäischer Patentanwälte in Deutschland (EuPAG)

§ 5 Absatz 1 Patentanwaltsordnung (PAO)

§§ 68 ff. Verordnung über die Ausbildung und Prüfung der Patentanwälte (Patentanwaltsausbildungs- und -prüfungsverordnung - PatAnwAPrV)

Legal Remedies

You can take legal action against the decision of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office within a certain period of time (for example, by filing an opposition). The decision will then be reviewed. Details can be found in the information on legal remedies at the end of your decision. You should first speak to the responsible office before taking legal action against the decision.

Procedure

Filing an application

You submit an informal application to the German Patent and Trade Mark Office to establish the equivalence of your professional qualification. You must also submit all the necessary documents.

Equivalence assessment

The German Patent and Trade Mark Office then compares your professional qualification with the German professional qualification and checks the equivalence. If your professional qualification is immediately recognized as equivalent, you will receive a notice of equivalence. You can use this decision to apply for admission to the patent attorney profession. This is a different procedure.

Aptitude test

If your professional training differs significantly from the German training, you will receive a decision on the differences. You will then have the opportunity to take an aptitude test. The aptitude test can be used to determine the equivalence of your professional qualification.

The aptitude test must take place within 6 months of the decision on your application. If you successfully pass the aptitude test, you will receive a certificate of equivalence.

You can use the notice of equivalence to apply for admission to the patent attorney profession. This is a different procedure.

If you do not pass the aptitude test, you can repeat it.

Deadlines

There is no deadline.

Sometimes documents are still missing from the procedure. The responsible office will then inform you by when you must submit the documents. This may prolong the procedure.

Processing time

4 months
The German Patent and Trade Mark Office will confirm that your documents have arrived after a maximum of one month. If all the necessary documents have been received, the equivalence check will take a maximum of 4 months.