Oficina española de Patentes y Marcas

Submission of an application can be done in person or online. In the latter case, you should go to the SPTO website and enter the e-Office, where you will find the necessary instructions. Keep in mind that applications processed online have a 15% fee discount, as long as payment is made in advance electronically.

After submission, the SPTO will begin processing your application and will keep you informed of the actions you need to take using the preferred notification method indicated in the application. Therefore it is essential that you communicate any change in your mailing address or e-mail address.

The first notification you receive will be Acceptance for Processing of your application, which will inform you of the submission date.

Next, the SPTO will carry out an ex-officio formal and technical and modality examination of the application. If there are any defects, you will be notified of this within two months so that you can rectify them. Otherwise, you will be notified that processing of the application is continuing.

Once it is agreed that the procedure will continue, this information shall be published in the Spanish Official Industrial Property Gazette (BOPI), a period for contesting it will open. In addition, the corresponding leaflet on the application will be published.

If objections are filed, it will be advisable to analyse the possibility of modifying those claims affected by the documents on which the objection is based or which provide the arguments deemed relevant, in order to avoid possible infringement of existing patents.

Finally, in light of any objections and possible modifications or allegations, the SPTO will rule on whether to register the application or not.

The final ruling will be duly notified. If the ruling is favourable, a period of three months is opened from its publication in the Official Industrial Property Gazette (BOPI) in which to pay the fees for concession rights and retrieve the certificate.

If the model (with a maximum duration of 10 years from the submission date) is granted, a three-month period will start following publication in the BOPI for you to for pay the fees for concession rights and any accrued annual fees. Taking into account that the first and second annual fees are included in the application fee, the first annual fee you will have to pay will be the third. Later, to maintain the validity of the patent, you will be required to pay the corresponding annual fees each year. For detailed information on how to make these payments, you can consult the “Home/Utilities/Fees and public prices/Instructions for paying fees for concession rights and annual fees”.

Once you have obtained a utility model, the SPTO continues to play an important role. First, it contributes to disseminating your invention, in the same way it was granted, which is no doubt helpful for making it known and possibly marketing it. Similarly, if you transfer or license the technology covered by your patent, you are advised to register these actions with the SPTO so that they are valid as far as third parties are concerned. On the other hand, if you have difficulties marketing it, you can offer to license your utility model by offering a Full Licence. The SPTO will reduce the maintenance fee by 50% and publish your offer.

If you have any questions during processing, you can contact our Information and Citizen Assistance Service, by either calling 902 15 75 30 or sending an e-mail to informacion@oepm.es. Similarly, once your application has been published, you can monitor the processing status of your application at all times through this office's website (“Home/Databases/Application status” section).