Industrial designs: Law 20/2003 of 7 July on the legal protection of industrial designs.

Trade marks: Law 17/2001 of 7 December on trade marks

Semiconductor topographies: Law 11/1988 of 3 May on the legal protection of semiconductor topographies

Patents and utility models: Law 24/2015 on patents, in force since 1 April 2017, together with the Regulations for its implementation. It strengthens legal certainty, whilst simplifying and streamlining the formal requirements for obtaining a patent. Key changes:

• Mandatory examination of patentability requirements. 
• A Prior Art Report (PAR) is required prior to filing the application.
• It allows the PSR to be obtained within the priority year, which facilitates potential extensions to other countries.
• The cost of the application increases, as the search report fee and the filing fee must be paid from the start of the procedure.
• The regime for employee inventions is clarified in Title IV.
• Changes regarding inventions by research staff at universities, public bodies and public research centres (Art. 21):
  • Three types of research staff are distinguished.
  • The invention belongs to the universities or public centres, regardless of the legal relationship of the researchers.
  • The researcher must notify the entity of the invention in writing within 3 months. A penalty is established for non-compliance.
  • The organisation shall notify the inventor in writing of its intention to apply for a patent or to treat the invention as a trade secret within a period of 3 months. If no such notification is received within this period, the inventor may apply for the patent.
  • Where the patent is applied for in the name of the organisation, the researcher is entitled to a share of the profits arising from the exploitation or transfer of their rights.
  • Where research is carried out under agreements with other public or private bodies, the contracts must specify who holds the title to the inventions.
  • The University Governing Council shall determine the terms and extent of research staff’s share in the profits derived from the exploitation of inventions.
  • A 50% reduction for public universities on the fees for obtaining and maintaining patents and utility models, rising to 100% if actual and effective exploitation is demonstrated.
• With regard to utility models, under the new law:
  • Subject matter and inventions excluded from patentability, process inventions, inventions relating to biological material, and pharmaceutical substances and compositions are excluded.
  • Absolute, worldwide novelty is required, as is the case for patents.
  • An IET is required to initiate proceedings to defend the rights arising from this protection.