Patent- und Markenzentrum Baden-Württemberg

What Patent- und Markenzentrum Baden-Württemberg does

Patent- und Markenzentrum Baden-Württemberg (PMZ BW) is a state-government information center operated by the Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart and headquartered in the Haus der Wirtschaft building at Willi-Bleicher-Str. 19, 70174 Stuttgart. It serves inventors, businesses, students, and researchers across the state of Baden-Württemberg by providing free, neutral, and comprehensive information about all categories of industrial property rights, specifically patents, utility models, registered designs, and trademarks. The center is the official cooperation partner of the DPMA (Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt), which gives it authoritative standing within the German IP system.

The service portfolio consists of on-site database access with qualified-staff support, commissioned searches (Auftragsrecherche), inventor consultation (Erfinderberatung), registration assistance (Anmeldungen), group presentations (Gruppenvorträge), and a working group on patents (Arbeitskreis Patente). The center also runs the Patentcoach BW online portal and co-administers the Innovationspreis Baden-Württemberg and Erfinderpreis Baden-Württemberg award programs. The flagship engagement mechanism is the annual 'Tag der gewerblichen Schutzrechte' congress, complemented by recurring workshops such as 'Patentrecherche leicht gemacht'. Outreach is extended through a multi-channel digital footprint including a website, YouTube, LinkedIn, Mastodon, Instagram, and an RSS feed.

The business model is a publicly funded freemium service rather than a commercial revenue operation. Core information and consultation services are explicitly provided 'kostenlos' (free of charge), with a separate fee schedule (Entgeltordnung) applying only to certain ancillary services whose rates are not publicly disclosed. The organization operates with approximately five staff from a single Stuttgart location covering the entire Baden-Württemberg region, and customer acquisition is event-driven (annual congress, patent research workshops, group lectures) supplemented by walk-in and remote (phone/email/contact form) consultations. As a government entity, it has no shareholders, no funding rounds, and no commercial sales motion.

Name

Patent- und Markenzentrum Baden-Württemberg

Legal name

Patent- und Markenzentrum Baden-Württemberg

Website

https://pmz-bw.de

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Patent- und Markenzentrum Baden-Württemberg is a state-government information center in Stuttgart, operated under the Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart, that provides free, neutral advisory services on patents, trademarks, designs, and utility models to inventors, businesses, and researchers across Baden-Württemberg as the official cooperation partner of the DPMA.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Intellectual Property Information Services

NAICS

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (541), Other Legal Services (54119)

SIC

Patent Owners & Lessors (6794)

akta.pro primary industry

Patent Prosecution & Portfolio Management (BPAHAMAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Trademark Prosecution & Brand Protection (BPAHAMAB), Intellectual Property (IP) Law (BPAHAAAF)

Keywords

• Industrial property rights
• Patent information services
• Trademark consultation
• Patent research support
• IP registration assistance

Headquarters

HQ city

Stuttgart

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Free Public Services: The center provides free information and consultation services about industrial property rights to the public. While there is a fee schedule (Entgeltordnung) mentioned, the primary services are offered at no cost as a government-funded initiative.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The Patent- und Markenzentrum Baden-Württemberg is a government information center operated under the Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart that provides free, neutral, and comprehensive information about all industrial property rights (patents, utility models, registered designs, and trademarks). It offers on-site database access with staff-assisted searches, commissioned research, inventor consultation, registration assistance, and group presentations targeted at inventors, businesses, and the academic community in Baden-Württemberg.

Product overview

Patent- und Markenzentrum Baden-Württemberg is a government advisory service operated by the Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart, offering free, neutral, and comprehensive information on all industrial property rights. The portfolio consists of multiple service modules including on-site support with access to patent databases, commissioned research services, inventor consultation, assistance with registrations for patents/utility models/designs/trademarks, group presentations, and a patent working group. The center also operates external programs including Patentcoach BW, and organizes the annual 'Tag der gewerblichen Schutzrechte' conference, as well as supporting the Baden-Württemberg Innovation Award and Inventor Award.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Patentcoach BW: Online portal for patent coaching services in Baden-Württemberg, accessible at patentcoach-bw.de
• Arbeitskreis Patente
• Innovationspreis Baden-Württemberg
• Erfinderpreis Baden-Württemberg

Products and services

• Unterstützung vor Ort (On-Site Support) On-site support provided at the Stuttgart center by qualified staff to facilitate access to patent and trademark databases and assist users with their research queries.
• Auftragsrecherche (Commissioned Research) Commissioned search service where the center conducts patent and trademark research on behalf of clients who request it.
• Erfinderberatung (Inventor Consultation) Consultation service for inventors providing guidance on intellectual property protection strategies and the registration process for patents, utility models, designs, and trademarks.
• Anmeldungen (Registration Assistance) Assistance with registration procedures for patents, utility models, designs, and trademarks, provided to inventors and businesses.
• Gruppenvorträge (Group Presentations) Group presentations on industrial property rights topics delivered to companies, organizations, and academic audiences.
• Patentcoach BW External online portal providing resources and guidance on patent-related matters for inventors and businesses in Baden-Württemberg.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• DPMA (Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOfficial cooperation partner of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA). This partnership provides the center with direct connection to the national patent and trademark authority, enabling it to offer authoritative guidance on IP matters and access to official databases and resources.
• Regierungspräsidium StuttgartcoreOthersThe Patent- und Markenzentrum is an institution (Einrichtung) of the Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart, the regional administrative authority of Baden-Württemberg state. This parent organization provides institutional support and oversight.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Patentinformationszentrum Berlin (at TU Berlin): One of the regional German patent information centers serving Berlin and Brandenburg. Directly comparable as a public-sector patent information center with on-site databases, search support, and inventor consultation — essentially the same service model as PMZ BW in a different German state.
• Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB) Hannover: German publicly funded science and technology library that maintains patent information collections and offers patent search support. Comparable because it provides free public access to patent databases and qualified IP research assistance — the same core service model as PMZ BW but operating at a larger scale and national scope.

Others

• Clarivate (Orbit Intelligence / Derwent): Commercial IP intelligence and patent analytics provider. Comparable in adjacent space — provides patent search and analytics databases — but operates as a paid commercial platform rather than a free public service, positioning it as a complement/competitor to PMZ BW's free database access for sophisticated users.
• Patent Information Users Group (PIUG): International professional association of patent information users. Comparable as an ecosystem participant promoting education, best practices, and networking around patent search and IP information — overlapping with PMZ BW's workshop and Arbeitskreis Patente community-building activities.

Broad incumbents

• United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO): US national patent and trademark office. Comparable in core role (public IP authority providing patent/trademark information and registration) but operates as a federal-level entity with a vastly larger scope and digital-first service model.
• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO): Global UN agency for IP services providing PATENTSCOPE and IP information resources worldwide. Comparable as a publicly mandated IP information hub that offers free neutral access to patent data and educational resources — functionally aligned with PMZ BW's mission at a global scale.
• European Patent Office (EPO): European intergovernmental patent granting authority. Comparable because it is the regional IP authority offering patent information, Espacenet database access, and search guidance — overlapping with PMZ BW's mandate to provide neutral patent information to inventors and companies.
• Japan Patent Office (JPO): Japan's national patent and trademark office providing public IP information services and databases (J-PlatPat). Comparable as a national IP authority delivering free public access to patent information and educational resources.
• Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt (DPMA): Germany's national patent and trademark office. Comparable because it provides authoritative IP information, registration, and search services; PMZ BW is officially a 'cooperation partner' of DPMA, making DPMA both an upstream authority and the most directly analogous national-level counterpart to PMZ BW's state-level role.

Emerging players

• Espacenet (European Patent Office service): EPO's free public patent search portal. Comparable as a free public-facing patent database designed for inventors and researchers to conduct prior-art searches — overlapping with PMZ BW's 'Auftragsrecherche' and on-site database access services, but delivered as a fully digital self-service tool.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@pmz-bw
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pmz-bw
• Instagraminstagram.com/pmz_bw

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Patent- und Markenzentrum Baden-Württemberg