Increase in Industrial Property rights applications

The Spanish Patent and Trademark Office, O.A. (SPTO) compiles every year the activity at national level that takes place in each of the Industrial Property modalities of its competence and analyzes the applications filed for patents, utility models, complementary protection certificates for medicines and phytosanitary products, trademarks, trade names and industrial designs.

Definitive statistical data showing the evolution of the different industrial property modalities is available for 2023.

This year, as a novelty, we have included the number of PCT applications in the national phase in the total data of national patent and utility model applications.

Taking into account this incorporation, during the year 2023, the total number of patents filed before the SPTO is 1,456 (applications filed by residents in Spain and non-residents and including PCT in national phase), 10.5% more than in the year 2022.

The number of PCTs in the national phase experienced a significant increase from the second half of the year, coinciding with the entry into force of the Unitary Patent.

 An analysis of the number of utility model applications filed in 2023 shows an increase of 6.5% with respect to 2022, reaching a total of 2,807 applications.

 With regard to distinctive signs, 48,773 applications for national trademarks and 15,124 applications for trade names were filed during the year 2023. Although there was a 7.8% growth in trademarks with respect to the previous year, the figures achieved in the pandemic and pre-pandemic years have not yet been reached.

With regard to trade names, the growth in applications for registration observed in previous years persists, reaching in 2023, a result 21.5% higher than the data for the year 2022.

Finally, it is important to highlight the number of industrial design applications filed in 2023. An increase of 33.4% is observed with respect to the previous year, with a total of 14,573 designs, a result closer to the figures obtained in years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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