1. applications can be filed in a language other than German as long as a translation into German is filed within three months of filing the application;

2. details of claims to priority will be able to be supplied up to 16 months after the priority date claimed. Additionally provisions on reinstatement of lost rights have been extended to permit claims for reinstatement of claims to priority rights which were lost despite the applicants having taken due care, presumably in cases where, for example, a Patent Office of a country fails to provide filing particulars of an application from which priority is claimed in good time;

3. the grounds on which an appeal from a decision from the Federal Patent Court to the German Supreme Court may be filed have been broadened to include cases where the Federal Patent Court had denied a party the right to be heard and procedure on appeal to the Supreme Court from the Patent Court has been simplified;

4. the name of the German Patent Office is to be changed to the German Patent and Trademark Office;

5. compulsory license provisions have been amended in the light of GATT-TRIPS.