How to Get Patents from the German Patent and Trade Mark Office, DEPATISNET

Hints from Friedrich Engel and Jay McKnight

1. On your Internet browser, go to the DEPATIS website   http://depatisnet.dpma.de/  .
   
   
2. The first window says: "Willkommen im DEPATISnet "
   
   • For English, > click on the "Union Jack" (British flag)
   
   
3. The second window gives general instructions, which you should read carefully. If you want more information, click "Help" on the bar at the top.
   
   •  Since you are beginners, >click "Beginner's search".
   
   
4. The third window "Beginner -- Search query" is the page where you enter the patent information in one or more search boxes. Note that they are "logically anded".
   
   • For older patents (prior to about 1995) in some countries (e.g. Germany) you must know the country and the patent number. In this case:
     
     • In the left-most selection box, look in the drop-down for the issuing country's ISO name abbreviation and >click it.
     • In the middle entry field, enter the number of the patent desired. Enter numbers only (i.e., no commas, decimal points or similar).
   • For other countries (e.g. US and France) you can search using any or all of the search boxes.
     
     • If you use the "Search in Full Text" box, and you enter several words, the default is a logical "or". You can enter "and" , "or", and "not" if needed.
   • When you have filled in one or more of the search boxes, >click in the field "Start search", or simply press ENTER
   
   
5. The fourth window is the "Beginner > Results List".
   
   • If you want to see the "Bibliographic Data" (title, applicant, inventor, application date, country of application, publication date, etc),  >click on the Publication Number.
   • If the Adobe PDF icon appears in the "Display PDF" column, you can see and print the patent itself -- >Click the Adobe PDF icon.
   
   
6. The fifth window "Hitlist Entry m/n" is the main selection field for viewing and printing the patent one page at a time.
   
   • For "Resolution", 300 dpi (on the bar at the top) gives good results, and a fairly short printout time on a laser printer.
   • Selection of Page(s) of the patent is achieved by > clicks on the inconspicuous arrows ">" and "<" below the text "Hitlist entry". Here, you can navigate through all (!) pages of the patent, but you can only see one page at a time.
     
   • Navigation through the patent may also be achieved by > clicks on the entries "Bibliographic data" // "First page" // ... "Drawing".
   • To print the page you are now viewing, > click on the printer icon on the toolbar at the top of the page. (You can only print one page at a time.)
   
   The process at first seems a very complicated , but be assured: DEPATISnet is faster than browsing through your patent file!