Published Patent Application / Granted Patent Holders

Do you have a granted patent, a published patented application, or a registered and published utility model or design? If you can answer “yes” to any of these questions, you are eligible to participate in the Henkel Innovation Partnership Program.

We are looking for patented ideas for products, processes and designs that relate to our three business units. If you have developed something that fits our criteria, we would like to know more about it!

We are searching for published patent applications or patents that have already been granted for products and processes, and for registered utility models and designs. Your submission must meet our evaluation criteria and your patented idea has to fit to one of our three business units Laundry & Home Care, Beauty Care, or Adhesive Technologies. Listed below are brief descriptions of Henkel's business sectors which will help you check whether your patented idea could be of interest to us.

What are we looking for?

  • Adhesive Technologies

  • Beauty Care

  • Laundry & Home Care

In the area of Adhesive Technologies we are looking for patented ideas for the following product categories: wallpaper pastes, renovating products, tiling adhesives, sealants, cyanoacrylates, PVC pipe adhesives, assembly adhesives, contact adhesives, flooring installation products and adhesives, waterproofing products, thermal insulation products, roofing-products,  glue sticks, correction products, adhesive tapes, wood adhesives, structural adhesives, packaging adhesives, laminating adhesives, reaction adhesives, high-performance sealants, polyurethane adhesives and sealants, surface treatment systems, cleaning agents, lubricants.

In the area of Beauty Care we are looking for patent ideas for the following product categories: hair washing and hair care products, hair colorants, hair styling products, perming products, fine soaps, shower gels and bath additives, deodorants, skin creams, skin care products, products for tooth and oral care, perfumes and fragrances, and products for professional hairdressers.

In the area of Laundry & Home Care we are looking for patent ideas for the following product categories: heavy duty detergents, fabric softeners, laundry care preparations or additives, dishwashing detergents, multi-purpose cleaners, scouring agents, floor and carpet care products, bath and toilet cleaners, glass cleaners, kitchen cleaners, special-purpose cleaners, air fresheners, and insect control products for household use.

Collaboration with Henkel step-by-step

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3

Protect your idea with a patent

For both the protection of Henkel and the inventor, we will only accept your submission if it is covered by an issued patent, if your patent application has been published, or a design patent or utility model has been registered and is available in the public domain.

What does this mean for you?

One of Henkel’s goals is to establish itself in the years to come as the “innovation leader” in its global markets. One of your goals, as an independent inventor, may be to put your idea into practice. If you can help us identify a product or idea that we feel our company could utilize, Henkel may be interested in talking to you further. Depending on the status of your idea, collaboration with Henkel could proceed in one of two ways:

  • Published intellectual property rights / ideas for which extensive evaluation is still necessary: Frequently, the long term value of an idea to a company can only be judged in concrete terms after an extensive evaluation. If we feel that the idea could be of interest, Henkel will conduct this evaluation and bear the associated costs. For you, this increases the chances that your idea might be utilized, even if Henkel decides on the strength of the evaluation results not to use the idea after all.
  • Published or granted intellectual property right that could be utilized as it is or in a slightly modified form: In this case, we would offer you, as the holder of the intellectual property right, either to purchase the patent, utility model or design from you, or to enter into a licensing agreement with you. If any evaluation is required prior to this, Henkel would conduct the evaluation and bear the associated costs.

Submit your patented idea

We are looking forward to your patented ideas!

We are looking for ideas that have already been patented, or for which a patent application has been published, or a utility model or design registered, and which have already been made accessible to the public. With a short description of the idea in English or German we can examine your proposal.

For submitting your patented idea please use our submit form.

Internal review and evaluation

The submitted patented ideas will be reviewed and evaluated according to the following criteria:

  • Does the idea fit Henkel’s business portfolio?
  • Does the idea fit Henkel’s strategy?
  • How high is the level of innovation?
  • To what extent does the idea meet customer/consumer needs?
  • Can the idea be put into practice?
  • Does the idea have market potential?
  • Or, in the case of an idea for methods or processes: Will the idea bring improvements in terms of environmental protection, substitution of raw materials, cost savings, or similar?

The deciding factors are whether the patent idea is relevant to Henkel’s business and whether Henkel considers that its utilization or further elaboration has the potential for success. The examination and evaluation process may take several months, so please be patient.Once the examination and evaluation process has been completed, we will notify you of the results. In some cases we may have to request more information from you in order to complete the evaluation.

Please note that many of the ideas submitted may already be disclosed in prior literature and patents, may have been previously considered or already developed by us, or we may currently be developing an idea that is similar to your idea. Henkel could have examined your idea at some time in the past and decided that it was not appropriate. Please understand that we will not give any reasons as to why we decide not to pursue an idea.