The Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (SPTO) completes its level of excellence with a new Certificate of Quality
The SPTO has maintained an ongoing commitment to Quality, incorporating it into all its strategic action plans as reflected in the Plan PI: Plan for Promoting Industrial Property in Spain (2010-2012) adopted last May by the Council of Ministers.
This commitment is reflected in its concern for improving human and material resources to meet the needs of its customers, for its adaptation to legislation, and for establishing new channels of communication with users, among others.
In 2007, the Spanish Association for Standardization and Certification (AENOR), certified the Quality Management System of the SPTO, (Certificate ISO9001: 2000) regarding the activities carried out under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT); a procedure that allows inventors and companies to internationally obtain protection for their innovations through a patent.
It was subsequently extended to Information Technology Services provided by the SPTO, and in 2008 AENOR certified the Technological Surveillance System for Query Services, recognizing that the SPTO has a large team of people and technical resources for developing Surveillance Technology. Thus, the main beneficiaries of certifications are the thousands of companies, research institutes, universities and individuals who annually go to the office to register their patents and request reports.
On June 22 and 23, after an audit carried out by AENOR, the ISO9001 Quality Certificate was extended to cover National Trademarks and Industrial Designs, and so from now on the Quality Management System applied to Industrial Designs, National Trademarks and Trade Names handled by the SPTO are certified by an independent entity.
The ISO 9001 international standard is the most widespread tool used for quality management in the world, with nearly one million licenses in 175
countries.
With this new certification, the SPTO becomes one of the few Industrial Property Offices in the world with quality certification for all its procedures.
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