Respondemos todas aquellas dudas referentes a los diferentes procesos implicados en la propiedad industrial.
According to the Patent Act, it is obligatory to initially file applications in Spain for inventions created in Spain.
This caution should be taken into account in light of the system of confidentiality to which all filed applications are subjected for the first two months after they are filed and which enables a decision to be reached on whether the object of the application affects national defence interests.
The difference between both systems consists of patents always offering better security: any person who uses this invention without being authorised can be sued, irrespective of whether or not they were aware of the existence of this patent.In contrast, the industrial secret offers a weaker protection restricted to demanding financial compensation from any person who is obliged to respect that secret (basically employees) and who discloses or uses it in for their own benefit or for the benefit of third parties.In other words, the industrial secret only protects against espionage.
Twenty years from the submission date for patents and ten years for utility models. Only in the case of patents for pharmaceutical and phytosanitary products can what is known as a Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC) be applied for, which extends the protection given for a maximum period of five years once the patent has expired.
There are basically two: to pay the annual fees and make use of the invention.
Once the patent has been granted, applicants are required to pay the annual fee to maintain the rights, as detailed in the current list of Public Fees and Prices (available in the Utilities section/Public Fees and Prices of the SPTO web page). If they do not do this in the correct manner by the deadline, the patent will expire and the object protected by said patent will become part of the public domain.
Furthermore, the holder also has the duty to exploit the patent, either themselves or via a person authorised by them using an exploitation licence.
The holder can benefit from a 50% discount on the above mentioned annual fees if they send a written declaration to the SPTO offering licences affording full rights.