SPAIN Trends and Developments Contributed by: Mario Sol Muntañola, Sol Muntañola Abogados
Invention Invention, along with creation, has been the driving force behind the evolution of our species. They are the two pillars of civilisation in terms of development. Patents and utility models are two ways to protect inventions. They constitute legal monopolies that states grant to inventors – whether individuals or com- panies – in exchange for the dissemination of these patented inventions, which encourages and sustains the technological development of societies. They are an essential strategic tool in developed countries, since, by protecting inventions, we safeguard and share advances that improve humanity’s experience of life within any environment. The Spanish Patent Law 11/1986 was not going to last long, since, under the pressure of the European Community and the technological changes that were advancing at full speed, it was replaced by the cur- rent patent law, that is Law 24/2015 of 24 July, which has been in force since 1 April 2017. It regulates the protection of industrial inventions, utility models and complementary certificates, and is managed by the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (OEPM). This new law meant a profound transformation of the Spanish system compared to Law 11/1986, which became obsolete. The previous law allowed pat- ents to be granted without a full technical examina- tion, leading to weak rights, high levels of litigation, and legal uncertainty. The 2015 reform abandoned this permissive model in favour of a more rigorous system, focused on the quality and reliability of the patents granted. The most significant change is the introduction of mandatory substantive examination for all patents, ensuring that only inventions that are gen- uinely new, inventive and applicable at an industrial level are granted. This reinforces the legal and eco- nomic value of the Spanish patent and aligns it with European standards. In the same vein, the new law fully harmonises the Spanish system with European patent law, eliminating the differences that previously made the Spanish system less strict. Law 24/2015 also reformulates the utility model regime, raising its requirements – in particular the requirement of global novelty – to prevent abuses and improve its credibility, without losing its function as a rapid protection for technical improvements.
but has chosen not to regulate “Geographical Indi- cations” or “Designations of Origin”, leaving it to the government to regulate them as soon as possible. In any case, the latter – indications and designations – are strongly regulated by EU legislation, which pro- tects the names of agri-food products, wines and spirits with specific qualities linked to their origin. The system includes the PDO (Protected Designation of Origin), the spirits-specific GI (Geographical Indica- tion), or the PGI (Protected Geographical Indication), and finally the TSG (Traditional Specialities Guaran- teed). In addition, this law has sought to improve processes by simplifying them, shortening the registration proce- dure, making the relationship between the registrant and the registry more flexible, and facilitating access to the registry using technology. It is a law that aligns the Spanish system with European standards, adapts it to EU provisions and, at the same time, internation- alises it. Domain names If it is important to identify and distinguish oneself in the physical world, it is, today, even more important to have a name that identifies our small (or large) corner of the virtual space. The old alphanumeric identifiers were soon replaced by words linked to those identi- fiers which became our internet domain names. The excessive rigidity of the former Spanish system, which, far from encouraging potential applicants, dis- tanced them from the Spanish ccTLD (country code top-level domain), led to the subsequent reform – although the Trademark Law had already provided for its application by law – which was carried out through Order 1542/2005 of the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Consumer Affairs of 19 May, and which approved the new National Plan for Internet Domain Names. The authority responsible for assigning domain names under the “.es” ccTLD is “RED.es”, which is also responsible for drafting the rules for dispute resolution in this area. Ultimately, any disputes that may arise are referred to the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Reso- lution Policy (UDRP) and resolved through the relevant dispute resolution service providers, such as WIPO.
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