International Projection. ○ Expansion of opportunities scouting at a global level, increasing the visibility of players and facilitating connections with international markets.
International Projection. The SPTO is a member of important international organizations (EPO, WIPO, EUIPO) dedicated to industrial property, in which it actively participates through their governing bodies. Since 1995, the SPTO has had the role of International Patent Search Authority within the framework of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), with Spain being the first administration authorized to conduct international searches in Spanish. In September 2001, the WIPO designated the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office an International Preliminary Examination Authority for patent applications filed in accordance with the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). This designation enables Spanish-speaking applicants to perform all the processes of an international patent application in their own language, saving on costs and processes. The SPTO, from the beginning, met all substantive requirements for being a PCT International Authority. This included, for example, a Quality Management System, which the PCT system has implemented in recent years. The SPTO renewed and reaffirmed its status as an International Search and International Preliminary Examination Authorityin 2017 for the next ten years. As from January 2018, English language is accepted for international search and for international preliminary examination. Thus, SMEs, Spanish entrepreneurs, and interested parties from Spanish-speaking countries who so wish may employ the English language, in addition to Spanish, whenever the SPTO acts as a PCT Administrator. The SPTO is competent for international applications filed at the following receiving Offices: Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Spain. However, in principle, the SPTO would be open to extending its services to any other receiving Office which permitted the filing of international applications in the Spanish language. The SPTO promotes electronic exchanges of information between offices: PCT Paperless Project with EPO, e-Search Copy with IB, MX, CL, PA, PE. The SPTO has signed several Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) agreements with other IP offices (China, Colombia, Finland, Russia, Japan, Mexico, Turkey, Morocco, and Turkey). The spirit of these PPH Agreements is to promote work-sharing and enable patent applicants to request accelerated processing of their applications. This Office has also signed a few PCT-PPH agreements which include PCT work products. Additionally, in 2014,...
