• Summer Course UIMP-SPTO 2016
• New positions for examiners, computer specialists and legal experts at the SPTO
• Improvements adopted by the SPTO
• New report on ‘Technologies to mitigate Climate Change 2004-2015’
• Visit by the KIPA Korean association to the SPTO

Improvements adopted by the SPTO

The Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (SPTO) has introduced a number of measures with the aim of improving its service. They include a filter to prevent incorrect payments of annual fees for Patents and Utility Models, and new versions to improve access and the usability of some of its query and search tools.

Incorrect payments
Errors sometimes occur in the payment of annual fees for Patents and Utility Models, making refunds necessary. In order to avoid such errors and their consequences, the SPTO has applied a filter to prevent the payment of fees if they have already been paid or if the file is not included in the SPTO data base, and to inform the user about the error.

This filter is active for payment through Files, the Tax Office (AEAT) gateway and the Caixabank gateway, but not for the Generation of In-Person Payment Documents for cash payments in the branches of the collaborating bank (Caixabank).

For more details, see the attached file. For questions, please contact SoporteFuncional@oepm.es

New versions of the SPTO tools
The new version of the Trademark Locator includes an innovative design with improved access and usability, as well as some functional optimisations such as:

• Miniature graphics on the search list.
• Updated printing function.

The e-Office has restructured its organisation to facilitate access and improve usability while maintaining the same content.

For queries on applications (CEO), the improvements include the following:

• CEO has been established as the legal system for queries on inventions. SITADEX will no longer update its information on inventions.
• Queries on trademarks in Beta. At this initial stage, queries on documents associated with files will not be possible, and SITADEX will continue to be the legal system for queries on trademarks.
• For Invention Transmissions (F) and Licences (L), new fields have been included in the search filter (application dates, holder, agent, etc.)
• On the list of results for queries on inventions, a distinction is now made between non-public files and non-existing files.
• Files can now be consulted by giving the type and number of file in a single field.
• It will also be possible to consult the information on payments for invention files.
• Documents associated with Designs and Inventions can be downloaded in ZIP format, and PDF files can be linked within a single document.