For all questions relating to industrial property rights, please contact the Patent- und Informationszentrum Rheinland-Pfalz (PIZ) at RPTU your direct contact and the staff on site will be happy to help you make the right contact. If you work and/or conduct research at a university, inventions will always be made. These must be officially registered in accordance with the Employee Inventions Act (ArbnErfG). Inventors also have a duty of confidentiality and may not publish the invention before it has been reported to the PIZ, for example. In general, it can be said that an invention is a new solution to a technical problem and must be new, inventive and industrially applicable in order to be registered as a patent or utility model.
When it comes to Designs ,the so-called “design patent” protects the design of three-dimensional objects or two-dimensional patterns, with a maximum term of protection of 25 years. Examples include fabric and wallpaper patterns as well as bottle and car shapes.
The utility model,also known as a “small patent”, can only be claimed in Germany for technical inventions. It is often an option for inventions with a lower degree of innovation. The maximum term is ten years, and there is a six-month grace period during which an application can still be filed after publication. Examples of utility models are writing instruments or safe children's scissors.
Trade marks on the other hand, identify goods and services and can consist of words, letters, numbers, images, colors and acoustic signals. Trade marks do not have to be new and can be renewed as often as desired.
A Patent can be applied for technical inventions, provided they are new, inventive and industrially applicable worldwide. Patent holders are granted the right to prohibit third parties from exploiting their own invention.
