There are different types of grants available from a variety of Public Institutions and Autonomous Communities. Each individual organisation is responsible for managing these grants.To facilitate access to this information, the SPTO website includes a section that summarises the main characteristics of the grants and offers contact information for each of the Public Institutions responsible for managing them.
The SPTO allows applicants with low incomes to defer payments. This deferment helps people whose income does not exceed four times the national minimum wage to apply for a patent without the need to pay any fees during the first three years. The unpaid amounts are then made up in successive years.
This exemption is granted automatically to individuals whose income, combined with that of their spouse, does not exceed twice the national minimum wage and may also be granted to individuals whose income does not exceed four times the national minimum wage, depending upon their financial burdens.
For this reason, copies with irrelevant modifications would be in breach of the law and action could be taken against them.
Since 2007, the SPTO has also had a subsidies programme to help applicants requesting European or international patents. These subsidies mainly focus around the translation costs and fees to be paid in the different national or regional patent offices in order to obtain a patent, provided that the necessary requirements published each year in the Official State Gazette are met. Full details of this subsidies programme are available on the SPTO website.
