EUIPO launches a “transparency portal” in order to facilitate the access of users to a whole series of organizational, economic documents, etc., related to the operation of EUIPO.

It is possible to access through the following link.

The Director General of the OEPM has informed WIPO that Spain wishes to withdraw the statement made under Rule 12.1)c)i) of the Common Regulations of the 1999 Act and the 1960 Act of the Haya Agreement concerning the level of designation rates applicable to international design applications.

In practice, this means that, as of January 26, the applicable rate will be significantly reduced from level 3 to level 1, aligning the designation rate with the national application rate. In this way, the designation fee for an application containing 10 designs will increase from 540 to 60 Swiss francs.

This will make the Haya System of Registration of International Designs more attractive to all its users.

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PRESENTATION OF THE APPLICATION FOR REGISTRATION OF TRADEMARK before the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office via telematics or in person.

EXAMINATION OF FORM-. Once the application is received, the trademark office will examine if it complies with all the formal filing requirements. In the event that there is a defect in the documentation presented, the applicant will be informed so that they can be remedied within a month or two, in the case of a residence abroad, if the observed defect refers to the minimum data for get a filing date.

SUBMISSION OF THE FILE TO THE OEPM-. If the formal requirements of the submitted application are met or if they have been corrected by the applicant, the request will be sent, with everything done to the OEPM when the competent body to conduct the formal examination was an Autonomous Community. In case the defects have not been corrected or the notification has not been answered, the request will be considered as abandoned. If the defects not corrected will only affect a part of the application, the request may be considered partially withdrawn.

EXAMINATION OF LICITUDE-. Once the formal exam has been passed, the OEPM will carry out the legality examination. If the OEPM observes any defect of lawfulness, it will inform the applicant so that within a month he / she alleges what he / she considers appropriate. If this exam is not passed, the application will be denied.

PUBLICATION IN THE BOPI-. Once the lawfulness examination has been completed, the application will be published in the Official Bulletin of Industrial Property for a period of two months, so that third parties can oppose it if they consider that their rights are affected by the application submitted.

The OEPM, prior to ordering the publication, will check if the request can affect third-party holders of already registered trademarks, and will inform them that the application submitted will be published soon, in case they wish to express opposition to the submitted request.

EXAMINATION OF SUBSTANTIVE-. After this two-month opposition period, the application is examined to determine whether it affects any of the absolute prohibitions on registration. If no one has filed an opposition to the registration and there are no objections of form or substance, then they will favorably resolve the trademark registration within a period of between 5 and 6 months.

CONCESSION – REFUSAL-. If the mark applied for does not incur any prohibition and if no objections have been filed, the OEPM proceeds to the concession of the trademark. Also, after the deadline set for the answer to the suspension, whether or not the applicant has answered, the registration will be granted or denied, in whole or in part, as appropriate. This resolution may be appealed within a period of one month after its publication in the BOPI, this prior and mandatory recourse to go to the contentious way. If the trademark is granted, its owner must withdraw the title registration of the same and will not be obliged to pay any fee, until it has to renew the registration of the same, after 10 years from its date of application.

THE DURATION OF THE PROCESSING-. The Trademark Law establishes a maximum period for processing the trademark registration of twelve months, when there is no opposition, and for twenty months in the case of a trademark whose registration they have opposed. However, currently, the registration of the trademark is usually processed in a few months.

Spain always in active fight against piracy.

Last Monday 2 October, with the motto “If you buy fakes, the adventure always ends badly”, an awareness campaign against illegal street vending and fake products.

The campaign, which ended on October 8, has sought to raise public awareness of the harm and risks involved in buying counterfeit products, which are mainly marketed through illegal street vending, but also to put into value the benefits that the acquisition of products originates for innovation and investment in R & D, for the generation of employment, for economic activity, in addition to the guarantees of quality and safety offered by the brands.

The development of the campaign coincided with the Marcathlon 2017, celebrated on October 7, a free, playful and educational event where brands, associations and institutions from many sectors come together to publicize the importance of Industrial Property for the economy and society.

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The city of Florence has devised a method of creative communication: about 200 graffiti made with yogurt and gypsum easily removable, with writings intended for both Florentines and visitors, to invite them not to get dirty and not to acquire counterfeit products.

These graffiti are part of the campaign of cultural awareness “CIVIC INVASION”. The mission that started in June, during the summer period, coinciding with the massive arrival of tourists, aims to promote good civil relations.

The particularity of these graffiti is, not only in the message they convey, clear and forceful, – “Be aware! If you buy from illegal street vendors you feed crime. You can be fined up to 7,000 euro “,” Animale! When non la raccogli l’animale non è il tu ocane, sei tu! The fine of 160 euros “and” Salvaggio! Non lasciare riffiuti ingombranti in Strada. Se chiami l’199-163315. Il ritiro è gratis “-, but the material with which they are painted, completely biodegradable, a mixture made of yogurt and plaster, easily removable with water. Undoubtedly, these designs preach by example: they have no environmental impact and invite to the “good education of tourists”.

On 23 June 2016, the citizens of the United Kingdom decided with their vote to leave the European Union and this fact undoubtedly entails legal consequences that also affect the field of industrial property rights.

As far as Community law is concerned, new registrants should carry out two registrations: one in the United Kingdom (IPO) and one in the European Union (EUIPO), since they cannot be broken down by country due to their unitary character. Similarly, owners of Community Trademarks, Models and Drawings could lose the scope of territorial protection in this State after the departure of the country, unless the United Kingdom implements some type of internal legislation to determine the regime of the registries Granted and in force.

On the other hand, applicants for European patents will have no problem in validating a European patent in the United Kingdom because that country remains a signatory to the Munich Convention. Since the European patent does not grant a unitary right, its application and grant procedure is unified after being granted by the EPO requiring the patent holder to decide on which of the signatory countries of the Convention wants protection.

Regarding the European Unitary Patent System, of which Spain is not a party, the abandonment of the European Union would mean that it would be impossible to continue to be part of the system, since only the Member States of the Union can participate.

Finally, if supplementary protection certificates were governed by a European regulation, they would cease to have effect in the United Kingdom.

In conclusion, it will be necessary to wait for the final conditions of the agreement to see if, after leaving the European Union, it also does of the European economic space.

On July 6, 2017, the New Zealand Intellectual Property Office (IPONZ) and the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce of Colombia (SIC) are joining the International Patent Prosecution Program Highway. ”

A multilateral agreement, comprising a total of 20 national industrial property offices, among them the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (OEPM), permitting patent applicants to file an accelerated review of the number of offices Participants if the seva sol·licitud contains claims that are patentable / grantable prior to any of the higher offices participating in the project.

The Government has approved the Royal Decree Law that regulates the new digital canon that seeks to compensate the authors for possible private copies of users.

The model that is now approved, which is expected to be validated with the next plenary session of the Congress of Deputies, is “based on the payment of an amount to be met by manufacturers and distributors of equipment and reproduction media, accompanied by an effective mechanism of exceptions and reimbursements”, said Méndez de Vigo.

Specifically, with this new model, the payment of the private copy will fall on the manufacturers and distributors of equipment, apparatus and reproduction media, except for the payment to natural and legal persons that justify the professional destination of the equipment and the entities that make up the public.

Law document

From July 6, Colombia becomes part of the network of procedures accelerated from GLOBAL-PATENT PPH, which is made up of 22 countries of Europe, North America, Asia, Oceania, and now South America.

From that date, patent applicants who have obtained their protection in Colombia may request that the same application be examined in any of the 22 countries that are part of the GPPH Accelerated Patent Procedure global initiative.

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Six students from the Barcelona school of Design and Engineering (ELISAVA) have designed the interior of the first European tourism capsule, which in two years will take tourists to the stratosphere.

The ship will allow commercial and leisure travel of 6 hours to about 34 km away from the land surface, from where you will see the curvature of land and space, and can carry up to 6 people, 2 of which will be the crew.

In this sense, the ship has been designed in such a way that the passenger will not overwhelmed with a modular, dynamic, programmable, neutral and intelligent space that enhances the interaction between the person, the capsule and the environment.

In this way, the ship has changeable spaces, reclinable and mobile seats, washbasins, floors and walls built with soft materials to be able to stretch or technological applications in the windows to listen to music, play or locate places on Earth.

The 6 students were chosen after a test phase and to get to design this capsule they spent 6 hours locked in a space of 12 square meters – like the one that has the ship – to see what sensations they had, and they flew with a balloon of helium to live an experience similar to that of Bloon.

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