Trademarks are used to distinguish goods and services of companies. The classification of goods and services is defined by the International treaty known as "Nice Classification" or "International Classification of Goods and Services". Every five years the Nice Classification is revised.
Issuance of Priority Documents - GPTO abolishes copy charges
Pursuant to the Notification of the President of the German Patent and Trademark Office (GPTO) dated April 28, 2011, starting from June 1, 2011 the copy charge per page currently collected when a copy of the priority document is requested will be abolished. There will no longer be a requirement to file a copy of the priority document or to ask the Office to make such a copy. In the future, the GPTO will automatically use copies of the originally filed applications available in the electronic case files (ElSA).