(1) The provisions of the Act on Service in Administrative Procedures (Verwaltungszustellungsgesetz) apply to service in proceedings before the German Patent and Trade Mark Office, subject to the following conditions:
1. Where acceptance of service by registered letter is refused without statutory ground, service is nevertheless deemed to have been effected.
2. Service on addressees who are staying abroad and who, contrary to the requirement under section 25, have not appointed a representative in Germany may be effected by posting a registered letter. The same applies to addressees who themselves are representatives in Germany within the meaning of section 25 (2). Section 184 (2) sentences 1 and 4 of the Code of Civil Procedure applies accordingly.
3. Section 5 (4) of the Act on Service in Administrative Procedures applies accordingly to service on holders of a certificate of representation (section 177 of the Federal Code for Patent Attorneys (Patentanwaltsordnung)).
4. Service on addresses for whom a post box has been set up at the German Patent and Trade Mark Office may also be effected by depositing the document in the addressee’s post box. A record of the deposit is to be added to the files. A note is to made on the document of the date when it was deposited. Service is deemed to have been effected on the third day following deposit in the post box.
5. Service of electronic documents is to be made using a mode of transmission which guarantees the authenticity and integrity of the data and which, if generally accessible networks are used, safeguards the confidentiality of the data to be transmitted by means of an encryption procedure. The Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection regulates, by statutory instrument not requiring the approval of the Bundesrat, details concerning those modes of transmission which are suitable pursuant to sentence 1, as well as concerning the form and proof of electronic service.
(2) The provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure apply to service in proceedings before the Federal Patent Court.