SPTO News

To know first-hand all the advantages and services we offer

As usual, here are the monthly SPTO news, so you know first-hand all the advantages and services we offer.

First of all, we would like to mention the recent creation by the SPTO and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) of two new informative videos centred on the protection in Spain of Industrial Designs and Trademarks respectively. These videos explain in a simple way what is an Industrial Design or a Trademark, the importance of these intangible assets, how to protect them and where we should go to do it. These videos are part of the EUIPO Cooperation Projects and the implementation of the subproject ‘Academy eLearning Portal’ in particular, which belongs to the ECP3 (related to new tools).

Besides, we would like to share with you the announcement of the inventors nominees for the European Inventor Award 2019 organized by the European Patent Office (EPO) in recognition of those who perform an inventive task and whose pioneering work offers responses to the challenges of our times, contributing to progress and prosperity. This prize praises the importance that inventors have for society and the deep impact that innovations have in the European economy. Among the 470 candidacies received in the present edition 15 have been chosen as finalists and have been classified in 5 categories: Industry, Research, Non-European countries, SMEs and Recognition for a whole life. We are pleased to announce that this year Spanish inventors have reasons to celebrate because they are represented in two of the proposed categories:

• Margarita Salas Falgueras has been nominated for the category ‘Recognition for a whole life’. Her wide long career as a researcher in the field of molecular genetics, in particular her studies on the DNA replication of the bacterial virus phi29 have been essential for her well-deserved nomination for these awards.
• The researchers Antonio Corredor Molguero and Carlos Fermín Menéndez Díaz have been nominated in the category ‘Industry’ for their concrete mould for the manufacture of cubipods at dikes or breakwaters which allow a quicker and easier construction, what entails cost savings.

In addition, as every year, the audience can choose the winner of the ‘Popular Prize’ among the 15 finalists by means of electronic votes.

The winners will be revealed in the award ceremony that will take place on June 20th in Vienna.

We encourage you to support the Spanish candidacies with your vote: https://popular-prize.epo.org/