Bavaria (23.03.20189 The State Candidate and Chairman of the Liberal Mittelstand business Association in Bavaria is concerned about the huge Increase in patents. Year after year, for example, the European Patent Office (EPO) in Munich sets new Records in the Number of Decrees, regularly with double-digit Growth Rates compared to the Previous year. Registration Figures are by no Rate growing in The same Proportion.

At the German Patent and Trademark Office, also in Munich, such a Trend cannot be observed.

In Particular, small And Medium-sized enterprises, in Germany and Europe, could be in economic Distress as a result of a less restrictive Procurement practice by the EPO, should patents wrongly granted occur to medium-sized Enterprises. Be held. In particular, the Fact that the Revocation of a Patent takes longer than the Decision on a possible Infringement regularly leads to the fact that the Proprietor of a wrongly granted patent is nevertheless at an Advantage.

It is therefore vital for Small And medium-sized enterprises that the Quality of the Departments is as high as possible. The Difficulty here is the lack of Definition of Quality. The Liberal Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Council considers it necessary for a broad, public Debate to take place on the Definition of the Quality of Patents. This Definition must by no means be left exclusively to the Patent Office, which is supposed to provide this Quality.