• New Patent Law
• High-quality services from the SPTO
• SPTO on the move
• 8th meeting of the Joint Spanish-Moroccan Committee on IP
• SPTO includes more than 93,000 Spanish industrial designs in the WIPO database

New Patent Law

The new Spanish Patent Law – Act 24/2015, of 24 July – approved on 25 July and due to enter into force on 1 April 2017 equates Spanish Patent legislation with international law and strengthens the Spanish National Patent System. The new legal framework places priority on activity that is truly inventive and novel, introduces a single granting procedure that will improve legal certainty for applicants and will improve the image of Spanish Patents.

The aim of the new law is to promote and protect innovation in Spain, offering an attractive alternative for those who prefer to protect their inventions nationally, because it establishes a solid system while avoiding unjustified monopolies.

Main changes

- The granting system is changed to a single procedure with a prior examination of novelty and inventive activity.

- Fast-track granting for solid Patents reduces administrative charges and speeds up procedures. In the case of Utility Models (for minor inventions), the scope of protection is expanded to include chemicals.

- Applicants will have access to relevant information helping them to decide if it is in the interests of their company to Patent in other countries as part of an internationalisation strategy.

- The rate for application, Patent search and examination for certain entrepreneurs and SMEs is cut by 50%, and a discount is established for universities.

- The regime for employee’s inventions is clarified, its procedure is simplified and legal certainty is stepped up.

- The regulation on “compulsory licences” is simplified. These are licences which, for reasons of public interest, must be given by the patent holder in order to prevent an invention from remaining unused.

- IP Rights now expressly include Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPC).

In addition, the purposes of the SPTO now include the promotion and development of mediation and action as an arbitration institution. Also, in line with the current legislation, the functions attributed to it by Decree for resolving Industrial Property conflicts in areas not excluded from free, lawful determination by the parties.