German patent law
German patent law is mainly governed by the Patents Act (German: Patentgesetz) and the European Patent Convention (EPC). == Obtaining patent protection == 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.