How to protect your Industrial Property Rights (IPR) if you are an SME, company or entrepreneur

Would you know how to proceed if they infringe one of your Industrial Property Rights?

The Spanish Patent and Trademark Office, O.A. (OEPM) has recently published a brochure that contains the guidelines on how to act and defend ourselves if we suffer infringement of a creation that implies an Industrial Property Right (IPR): a brand, a design, or an invention.

Divided into four main lines, the brochure details what measures should be taken against the unauthorized use of our IPRs by third parties:

1. Starting a business: record intangible assets so you can prove that they are yours. Take advantage of the free advisory services offered by the OEPM, such as the Business and SME Support Service and avoid the most common mistakes.
2. Manage your business: find out about surveillance services and actively monitor the status of your IPR.
3. Make your business grow: find out how to protect your trademarks, designs and inventions if you are going to export or display them at fairs or exhibitions. It also assesses the suitability of informing customs.
4. Defend your business: different routes can be taken and all have advantages and disadvantages and it must be decided which is the most appropriate according to the case. Many times it is a matter of choice of the injured party in one way or another and other times, depending on where the offense occurs or what is the desired result. Therefore, it is always a good idea to have professional advice. You must study the situation well and assess costs and benefits. Collect all possible evidence of the alleged infringement. The brochure also offers an action guide depending on the place where the infringement occurs: in the Spanish market, on the border of Spain, in the internal market of the European Union, in third countries or in the digital world.

Protect your business. While certain companies are committed to the quality and innovation of their products to create added value and differentiate themselves from the competition, there are agents, in many cases mafias, who do not hesitate to infringe the exclusive rights and take advantage of the reputation of others. Protect your IPR, so you can defend yourself and others do not take advantage of your creations and inventions.

The brochure can be downloaded here and can also be viewed on “the Stopfalsificaciones portal”.