Oficina española de Patentes y Marcas

WHAT IS A PATENT?

• A Patent is a title recognising the exclusive right to make use of a patented invention, preventing others from manufacturing, selling or using it without the patent holder's consent. In exchange, the Patent reveals the details of the invention to the general public.
• The right granted by a Patent is not so much the right to manufacture, offer on the market or use the object of the Patent, rights that the title holder always has and can exercise, but especially and uniquely, "the right to exclude others" from manufacturing, using or introducing the patented product or procedure in the course of commercial activity.
• The Patent can refer to a new process, device, product or the improvement or advancement of any of these.
• The duration of a Patent is twenty years starting from the date of the presentation of the application. In order to maintain the Patent in effect, yearly fees must be paid once it has been granted.
• Law 24/2015 of 24 July on Patents

WHAT IS A UTILITY MODEL?

• The Utility Model protects inventions of less inventive nature that those protected by Patents. They may be, for example, giving an object a set-up or structure from which some use or practical advantage can be obtained.
• The device, instrument or tool protected by a Utility Model is characterised by its "utility" and "practicality" and not for its "aesthetics", as happens in industrial design.
• The scope of protection of a Utility Model is similar to that conferred by a Patent.
• A Utility Model protects for a period of ten years from the presentation of the application. An annual fee must be paid in order to maintain the right.
• Law 24/2015 of 24 July on Patents