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 (EPO route), or through the filing of an international application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty followed by the entry into either the European phase (the so-called "Euro-PCT" route, which runs through EPO) or the national (German) phase of said international application.
The German patent has a term of 20 years.
After grant of a patent through the EPO or the Euro-PCT route a European patent is valid in Germany without further translation requirements if that country was indicated in the application.
If unitary effect is requested upon grant of a European patent, that unitary patent also applies in Germany.
This article about German law is a stub.