German patent law

German patent law is mainly governed by the Patents Act (German:Patentgesetz) and the European Patent Convention. A patent covering Germany can be obtained through four different routes: through the direct filing of a national patent application with the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (German:Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt) (direct national route), through the filing of a European patent application (European route), or through the filing of an international application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty followed by the entry into either the European phase or the national (German) phase of said international application (Euro-PCT route). The German patent has a term of 20 years.