If you want to distinguish your goods, services or both from those of another company, you may need a trademark or trade name. Find out what they are, what their registration procedure is and what it involves.
Information on the deadlines for filing applications for transformation of European Union trademarks into Spanish national trademarks. See more
If you have a new device, product or procedure that solves a technical problem or has a practical advantage, there are different ways to protect it in Spain and other countries. Find out how.
Does your innovation lie in the aesthetics, ornamentation or appearance of your product? Protect it through industrial design. Find out what rights registration confers and how to proceed.
Geographical indications protect the name of a product that has a specific geographical origin and owes its qualities, characteristics or reputation to its particular origin. Find out what they are, how the registration process works and what benefits they provide.
Patents published worldwide are a valuable source of scientific, technical and commercial information.
El Bono 3 del Fondo para PYMEs 2025, que cubre la elaboración de Informes Tecnológicos de Patentes (ITP) y Búsquedas Retrospectivas se cerrará el lunes 10 de febrero de 2025 al cierre de la jornada laboral. Próximamente se informará sobre su reapertura. Puede consultar más información aquí.
If you are an entrepreneur or a company and you want to boost and improve the profitability of your business by adequately protecting the intangible assets of your organisation, in this space you will find what you need.
Respondemos todas aquellas dudas referentes a los diferentes procesos implicados en la propiedad industrial.
It is common for companies to choose a name and protect it as a trademark, trade name, corporate name and domain name in order to concentrate their efforts and investments in publicity.
Identical or similar trade names and corporate names belonging to different businesses working in different business areas can coexist on the register, so long as there is no risk of error or confusion. It is not possible to register a corporate name that is identical to another already registered, even though the commercial activity is different. Neither is it possible to register a domain name that coincides with another previously registered name, whatever activity may be carried out using either of them.
Trademarks and trade names are registered with the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office; corporate names in the Central Mercantile Registry; and ".es" domain names with the public business entity Red.es, where the Directorate of Internet Domain Names is based, also known as ESNIC. There are therefore THREE DIFFERENT REGISTRIES for registering these important identifying signs for companies.
This is the address of a company, organisation, association or person on the internet and it enables their information, products and/or services to be made accessible throughout the world, via the internet.
It has a dual purpose:
- It is the identifier on the internet that serves to identify the company or the trademarks of its products and services on the web.
- It is the web address, being the simplest, fastest and most intuitive way of locating a site on the internet.
There are three levels of domains on the internet:
- First level domains are those ending in com, gob, edu, org (and others) and are assigned by institutions designated by ICANN. No prior checks are required to register .com, .org or .net domain names and they are assigned on a “first come first served” basis.
- Second level domains are those that identify the country. In Spain, Red.es is responsible for assigning these domains, and they are awarded to the first person to request them, provided they meet the requirements. Domain names that have been previously assigned cannot be the object of an application. They must also comply with certain syntax rules and cannot include reserved terms in a series of lists (internet terms, terms relating to national or international institutions), as set out in the corresponding regulations.
- RED.es is also responsible for assigning third level domains: “.com.es”, “.nom.es”, “.org.es”, “.gob.es” and “.edu.es”. These third level domain names are assigned by giving priority to those who apply first. Domain names that have been previously assigned cannot be the object of an application. When “.gob.es” and “.edu.es” domain names are assigned, it is first verified that they meet the requirements outlined in current legislation and that they comply with the syntax rules. Third level domain names of “.com.es”, “.nom.es”, “.org.es”, must also comply with syntax rules and cannot include reserved terms from a series of lists (internet terms, terms relating to national or international institutions), as set out in the corresponding regulations.
A trademark is a sign that serves to distinguish products or services and that can include two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms. Industrial design is an exclusive right granted to a product's external appearance and it has different requirements to a trademark. Two-dimensional forms are eligible for protection (for example, the pattern on a tie) as are three-dimensional forms (for example, the shape of a suitcase, the bodywork of a car).
A trademark is a sign that serves to distinguish products and services on the market.
A trade name does not represent a product or service and instead serves to identify the trade activity undertaken by a company and to differentiate it from all other companies in both the same and different sectors.
The trademark is the distinctive sign par excellence and can be extended internationally through procedures established via the international or European procedure for registering a trademark. In contrast, it is not possible to do this for a trade name, which can only be protected on a country by country basis and in accordance with the national regulations of each State.
BOPI
Electronic site
