Spain: New Patent Act has been adopted
A New Spanish Patent Act has been passed in order to shore up national patent system of the country and bring it into line with international IP practice. The New Law will come into effect on April, 2017.
Pursuant to the new Patent Act the main amendments consist in the following:
1. Once the Act enters into force, the Spanish Patent Office will only grant patents upon substantive examination. Also, the Law improves the legal regime of utility model, which will become more popular in view of adoption of non-examined procedure of registration.
2. Search, filing and examination fees will be reduced by 50% for entrepreneurs; at the same time small and medium enterprises as well as universities will obtain some benefits in registration.
3. It is now allowed to obtain utility models directed to chemical products, excluding pharmaceutical products and compositions, before that utility model protection was available for mechanical subjects only.
Thus, Spanish Patent Law becomes closer to the IP standards of the leading countries.
To get an actual quote for IP protection in Spain considering mentioned changes please visit our quotation system.
You are also welcome to review our brief applicant’s guide for registration of the IP types in Spain:
Author: Lynda Miller