The new Spanish Patent law

MLVelascoThe government recently approved a new law with the objective of improving the present patent law system that has been in force since 1986 (law 11/1986.)
The 1986 law allowed the filing of “weak patents” (i.e. patents without any type of scrutiny), or “strong patents” (i.e. patents that were analysed in depth for the level of innovation and novelty).

The new law will end the filing of “weak patents”, as they were problematic, controversial and able to generate unjustified monopolistic positions. In this group were patents filed by universities (without any commercial or industrial value), by companies without any real research, or industrial activities trying to cash in on royalties from other firms. The lack of scrutiny allowed patents that had no real innovative content.

The new law revolves around several axes:
As explained before, weak patents will disappear.
The process for filing patents will be harmonized with the international patent law, helping with the internationalisation of Spanish companies.
The filing process will be 50% cheaper for universities, entrepreneurs and small companies. This will become free of charge if, after the patent is filed  there are commercial applications.
The scrutiny process will be standardized and applicable to all filing requests. The innovation level and the uniqueness of the patents will be checked against international patents, not only at national Spanish level as  with the present regulation.
There will be a   clarification  relating to “compulsory licences”. These are licenses that the owner, for reasons of the public good, will be forced to grant. For example a patent over a pharmaceutical product that has to be exported to countries with exceptional health problems.
A new extension system called CCP or “Certificado Complementario de Protección”  (Complementary protection certificate), will extend a patent for an additional 5 years. This was put in place specifically to compensate the long approval process before commercialisation for pharmaceutical products.

Advantages of the new law
The general load on the “Oficina Española de Patentes y Marcas” (Spanish patent office) will decrease considerably as the bulk of patents introduced were “weak” and with a low level of technical quality.
The new law prevents unjustified monopolistic situations from companies filing for patents without real technological value just in order to obstruct competition.
University, entrepreneurs and small companies will benefit from a low cost filing process, encouraging internationalisation.
Better juridical protection for small companies and entrepreneurs.

 

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