• The new Spanish Patent Law comes into force
• Publication of the SPTO 2016 Annual Report
• Fairs the SPTO is due to attend in May
• WIPO Summer Course in Madrid
• Exclusive allocation to certain Commercial Courts in Catalonia, Madrid and Community of Valencia of civil matters relating to Intellectual Property Laws

Exclusive allocation to certain Commercial Courts in Catalonia, Madrid and Community of Valencia of civil matters relating to Intellectual Property Laws

On 2 February the Permanent Commission of the General Council of the Judicial Branch exclusively allocated the handling of civil matters that may arise under Law 24/2015, of 24 July, on Patents, Law 17/2001, of 7 December, on Trademarks, and Law 20/2003, of 7 July, on Legal Protection of Industrial Design, to the Courts listed in the extract reproduced below:

This agreement, which comes into effect on 1 April 2017, updates previous ones on the same subject, which will cease to be effective on that date.