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Assignments and Name and Address Changes before the German Patent and Trade Mark Office

Costs

• Usually we charge on a per-file basis.
  • Usually we do not charge for name and / or address changes in a file, if we can charge for an assignment in the file at the same time.
  • Usually we do not charge for address changes in a file, if we can charge for a name change in the file at the same time.
• Usually we do not charge an additional fee for taking over representation of a file, if we can charge for an assignment, or a name or address change at the same time.

Documents

For requesting a transfer or name and / or address change the German Patent and Trademark Office (GPTO) usually does not require any documents in case we already represent the intellectual property right (IPR). Therefore, kindly just advise of the new owner, new name and / or new address.

However, in case of a transfer we recommend to prepare an assignment contract. Therefore, you / your client may want to execute an assignment contract. No German translation of an English language assignment is required. Assignment contract samples are available on our homepage.

If you have / your client has already executed an assignment contract and the contract is not in the German or English language, we would appreciate receiving a German or English language Google translation and a copy of the original contract.

Representation

In case we do not yet represent the intellectual property right (IPR), we need to take over representation when requesting the transfer or name and / or address change. Therefore, kindly fill in and execute our Power of Attorney form or have executed it by the former owner.

Duration for registration

In a typical case it may take about 5 weeks from requesting the registration of a transfer or name and / or address change until we receive the confirmation of registration or an office action.

(No) requirement for registering a transfer, name and / or address change

Up until the transfer of an IPR is requested, the owner of the IPR, may not sue somebody since the owner is not registered as the owner of the IPR. Before suing a possible infringer, you have / your client has to at least request to record the transfer. Before an infringement law suit, there is usually enough time to file this request. So there is little disadvantage if you delay this request.

This page should not be construed as legal advice.
No responsibility is accepted for the correctness of the official fees. The attorney's fees indicated on this page are minimum charges of the law firm Dr.-Ing. Hellmich which may be raised in urgent cases.
This page does not constitute an offer but rather "invitatio ad offerendum" (invitation to make an offer).