• "Don’t be an accomplice to counterfeiting"
• Cooperation is key in the fight against counterfeiting
• Collaboration between SPTO and the FIPSE-ITEMAS Network
• Protecting plant varieties, seen from all angles

Collaboration between SPTO and the FIPSE-ITEMAS Network

The Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (SPTO) and the Foundation for Innovation and Prospecting in Health in Spain (FIPSE) have recently signed an agreement for collaboration with a view to facilitating, promoting and expanding knowledge on, and the use of, Industrial Property rights within the entities that belong to ITEMAS and other platforms in the sector to which FIPSE may provide services. Such collaboration should also promote competitiveness in Spanish science and industry within the medical and health care technology sector, thus establishing a two-way channel for institutional communication.

Prior to the signature of the Agreement and as a result of collaboration between SPTO and the ITEMAS network, the latest Technological Surveillance Bulletin on “Medical Devices”, drawn up by the two entities, was presented in the SPTO premises. At the event, a patent search workshop was held using free data bases, which was very favourably received by all those present who had come from different hospitals all over Spain.

This latest Technological Surveillance Bulletin gives a selection of the European and Spanish patents that are published every quarter on three topics – catheters and stents, surgical instruments, minimally invasive surgery and laparoscopy. These topics were chosen from those suggested by the hospitals that belong to the ITEMAS network. Like the other Technological Surveillance Bulletins published by the SPTO, this one comes out every three months and includes a summary of news on SPTO activities that might be of interest to users. Readers can subscribe, free of charge, to the Bulletin, or can consult it on the SPTO website.

FIPSE Foundation
The FIPSE Foundation includes among its aims the promotion of innovation and the transfer of knowledge on the health care sector to the industrial fabric, in order to foster fast adoption of emerging health care technologies in health systems. This foundation acts on the ITEMAS platform, which supports research in science and health care technologies and is promoted by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII). At its centre are the Units to Support Innovation in the 31 large hospitals belonging to the National Health System, and it also includes other agents in the area of health care innovation (businesses, technology centres, administration, etc.) under the figure of ‘collaborators’.

Innovation is key for taking up the scientific and health care knowledge generated in hospitals. And legally protecting it under the different forms of Industrial Property is essential for guaranteeing that innovators enjoy exclusive rights, preventing third parties from exploiting such innovations. Patents also serve as powerful tools for internationalisation. Knowing about Industrial Property rights and using them to protect innovations should give ITEMAS a singular advantage and step up international competitiveness.