(1) If no order in accordance with section 50 (1) is served on the applicant within four months after the invention is filed with the German Patent and Trade Mark Office, the applicant and any other person who has learned of the invention, insofar as they doubt whether secrecy regarding the invention is necessary (section 93 of the Criminal Code), may assume that the invention need not be kept secret.
(2) If the examination of whether no publication at all is to be made pursuant to section 50 (1) cannot be concluded within the time limit referred to in subsection (1), the German Patent and Trade Mark Office may extend this time limit by no more than two months by communication which is to be served on the applicant within the time limit referred to in subsection (1).