A year since the reform of the Trademark Law

Almost a year ago, (on January 14, 2019) the reform of Law 17/2001, on Trademarks, entered into force. The changes have been motivated by the need to transpose the latest Community Trademark Directive that aims to strengthen the internal market by creating a more uniform trademark registration system across the EU.

Today we already have some data that allow us to appreciate the impact that the elimination of the requirement of graphic representation and the introduction of the use test in the examination of oppositions, among others, has had on the record.

Regarding the news concerning the representation of the sign, the SPTO has been one of the EU Industrial Property offices that received more requests for non-traditional brands in this first year, as can be seen in the following graphic of according to TMView data.

In the case of Spain, in particular, the number of requests for movement Trademarks stands out.

As regards the new evidence of use procedure, applicable to applications submitted as of May 1, 2019, about one hundred requests have been received. In relative terms, this data assumes that this procedure has been requested in about 5% of the applications that have been suspended because there is an opposition. For this, the SPTO has developed new accessible forms at the electronic headquarters and has also adapted existing ones, both on electronic and paper gateways

In addition, given the relevance of these changes, the SPTO has carried out during the past year an intense dissemination activity through presentations, talks and meetings with the Regional Industrial Property Information Centers and with other stakeholders in much of the Spanish geography. In those actions, it has been explained in detail the content and scope of the reform, as well as its impact on administrative practice. Cities such as Santiago de Compostela, Valencia, Mérida, Gijón, Valladolid, Bilbao, Madrid, Pamplona, Jaén or Murcia have been some of the hosts of these events.

In short, the first year of the reform has been marked both by the interest of the SPTO that the users of our registration system know its scope and content, as well as to adapt and prepare the necessary procedures for it, in addition to training and prepare personnel related to the processing of distinctive signs in order to exercise the new skills acquired by the SPTO.