New FAQS on our website about European patents

Given the importance of the European patent, we have recently published updated information regarding it on our website. Through “frequently asked questions” dedicated to this topic, the particularities related to filing a European patent application through the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office, O.A. (OEPM), as well as the ways to enforce its effects once it has been granted and published before the European Patent Office (EPO).

For a better understanding of the subject, the questions have been ordered taking into account different moments in which the applicant can be found. This way, the information is simplified and users are placed in attention to the particularities to take into account before proceeding with a European patent application presentation, subsequently at the moment of its presentation and finally, after the grant.

From a global point of view, information is provided about the filing of the application, the effects of the application after its publication in the European Patent Bulletin, and its subsequent granting and publication by the EPO, as well as the requirements and deadlines with which the holder has so that said right can be fully effective in Spain. In this sense, it should be remembered that we are faced with a right that, although it is granted by a single body (the EPO), through a single granting procedure and legislation (1973 Munich Convention on European Patent CPE), will only have effects in Spain. To the extent that once the patent has been granted, the temporary, formal, and material translation requirements established in our Patent Law 24/2015 are met, through a procedure: that of patent validation in Spain, which is essential for the law to deploy all its effects.

It should be noted that the patent, once granted and validated in Spain, is governed by the same regulations as if it were a national patent, that is, by Law 24/2015 on patents, of special importance in the accrual of required annuities for the maintenance of the right.

Currently, 50% of the inventions protected in Spain come by extension of the European Patent, and 100% of them are requested electronically, fully meeting the objectives of transparency of all administrative action which efficiently offer the interested party timely information, agile, and updated of the file processed before the EPO.

More information

https://www.oepm.es/es/Invenciones_Menu/Patente_Europea/

https://www.oepm.es/es/sobre_oepm/noticias/2021/2021_03_16_NumSoliPatEuroOrigenES_OEP.html?accesoInterno=true