200 Years of Patents

From 2010 to 2012, the SPTO has been celebrating the bicentenary of a series of events related to the construction of a modern Industrial Property system in Spain.

Evolution
The institutions of the Old Regime, and the granting of Royal Invention Privileges, definitively changed after the War of Independence. A Conservatory of Arts and Trades was established in Madrid in 1810 -signed by the Secretary of State, Mariano Luis de Urquijo (1768-1817)- which operated as the first Patent Office. It was planned to be a general repository for all types of machines, models, tools, drawings, descriptions and books related to any art or trade, but for the first time it also specified the requirement of depositing the originals of all machines and instruments invented or perfected in Spain.

It was also responsible for disseminating technological information through the publication of a specialized journal (“Annals of the Arts"), and sending duplicates of the inventions to other establishments.

One year later, in 1811, the French-controlled administration of Joseph Bonaparte sanctioned, on September 16, the first Patent Law. By then, only six countries had established specific laws on Industrial Property: Venice (1474), the United Kingdom (1624, 1707 and 1800), France (1762 and 1791), the United States (1790), Holland (1809) and Austria (1810). Consisting of 25 articles, the law of 1811 established the rules to be followed by those who invented, enhanced or introduced new useful devices into any branch of industry.

However, neither the Conservatory nor the Law of 1811 came solidly into fruition due to the instability of the country during the War of Independence. In fact, they were applied to territory under French rule, while other initiatives prospered in the remaining part.

In 1811, the liberal revolutionaries who fought the French troops and reactionary ideas held by supporters of the Old Regime formed a representative Parliament in Cádiz, and drew up a constitution the following year. Popularly known as “La Pepa", the Constitution of 1812 included Article 335, section 5, which specified, "It shall correspond to the regional councils: to promote the education of the youth in accordance with the approved plans, and to develop agriculture, industry and commerce, protecting the inventors of new discoveries in any of these fields."

As was the case with the legislation passed under French rule, the revolutionary laws of Cádiz were suspended with the return of Fernando VII in 1814, until the Court system in Madrid returned and enacted a new Patent Law on October 2, 1820, during the "Liberal Triennium."

www.oepm.es

Aptitude Test Examination Sessions for IP Agents The SPTO signs an agreement with Navantia to promote IP Grants for Promoting 2011 Patent Applications and Utility Models 200 Years of Patents