(1) Any person who in accordance with an international treaty claims the priority of an earlier foreign application in respect of the same design is required to indicate the date, country and file number of the earlier application before the expiry of a period of 16 months from the date of priority and to submit a copy of the earlier application. The particulars may be changed within that period.
(2) If the earlier application was filed in a state with which no international treaty on the recognition of priority has been concluded, the applicant may claim a right of priority which corresponds to the right of priority under the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, insofar as, in accordance with a notice published by the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection in the Federal Law Gazette, the other state grants a right of priority on the basis of a first application filed with the German Patent and Trade Mark Office which is equivalent as regards the conditions and content to the right of priority under the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property; subsection (1) applies.
(3) If the particulars specified in subsection (1) are furnished in due time and if the copy is submitted in due time, the German Patent and Trade Mark Office records the priority in the Register. If the applicant has not claimed a priority until after publication of the registration of a design or has made changes to the particulars, the publication is thus done subsequently. If the particulars specified in subsection (1) are not furnished in due time or if the copy is not submitted in due time, the declaration concerning the claiming of priority is deemed not to have been made. This is determined by the German Patent and Trade Mark Office.