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Turning ideas into assets

Confidentiality

Confidentiality
All employees at Danish Patent and Trademark Office have signed a confidentiality agreement. Rules pertaining to confidentiality come under the Danish Act on Public Administration and the Danish Penal Code.


Confidentiality and Documents open to public inspection

Commercial searches and analyses (i.e. services not pertaining to granted or applied IP rights) undertaken by the Danish Patent and Trademark Office are not open to public inspection. This is because the rules of the Danish Open Files Act do not apply to these services and as such they are exempt from public inspection.

Applications for patents, utility models, design and trademarks, as well as granted rights, are in principle open to public inspection except for the following initial periods:

  • Patent applications for a period of 18 months from the application was filed or from the priority date
  • Utility model applications for a period of 15 months from application was filed or from the priority date
  • Design applications for a period of 6 months from the application was filed or from the priority date


Data protection

Security

Searching on the Danish Patent and Trademark Office's website takes place as regular open internet traffic. There is no encryption. This is also the case with searches in the electronic database PVSonline. A secure and encrypted connection is in operation when entering confidential data, e.g. filing applications or making payments.

It is possible to send and receive secure and encrypted e-mail or to share files in a secure manner through Secure File Exchange. Secure File Exchange is a SSL-enabled web server (HTTPS) hosted at the Danish Patent and Trademark Office for maximum privacy and security.


Anonymity

Visiting and using the Danish Patent and Trademark Office's website is anonymous. Data is only registered in the event that you sign up for any one of the DKPTO’s services or use our electronic application forms etc. We do however use IP numbers for internal statistical purposes in connection with our ongoing efforts to make the website more user-friendly. No personal information is passed on or sold to other parties, but some other kinds of data are open to public inspection. See more on this in the paragraph above: Confidentiality and Documents open to public inspection.

  • Data provided when requesting services
    Such data is only used for delivering requested services, collection of payment etc. and for internal statistical purposes. 
  • Data from electronically filed applications
    Data from applications filed electronically is automatically integrated into the DKPTO’s case processing system, which operates in accordance with the Danish Act on Public Administration and the Danish Open Files Act. This information is however available for public inspection, though with some exceptions. See more about this in the paragraph above: Confidentiality and Documents open to public inspection.
  • Data from credit card payments
    Data from credit cards is only used in connection with the actual payment transaction. The data is not saved.


Cookies

The Danish Patent and Trademark Office's website uses cookies. Cookies are used when you use DKPTO’s electronic services. In this way your settings are saved and you won’t have to enter the same data several times over.

Data from cookies is not used to gather personal information.