European Patents (EP), which are examined by the European Patent Office (EPO), allow the obtention of patent protection rights in up to 39 Contracting States of the European Patent Convention (EPC) by way of a single, centralized patent procedure. However, upon grant, an EP is not automatically valid in all these States. There are two ways of making an EP to confer protection rights in these States: by validating the EP in the respective States, or by requesting a Unitary Patent.
Spain is not part of the Unitary Patent system, hence an EP cannot produce patent protection rights in Spain by requesting a Unitary Patent. Accordingly, validation of the European Patent in Spain is the only option for the EP to confer patent protection rights.
The validation of an EP in Spain requires paying the prescribed official fees, filing a translation of the entire EP publication into Spanish, and appointing a legal representative from Spain. These requirements must be duly met within the 3-months period following the publication of the granted EP. A 2-months term extension for effecting the validation can be requested during the 3-months period without incurring additional costs, but it must be allowed by the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (SPTO) still within the 3-months period.
The scope of protection in Spain will be determined by the text of the translation into Spanish, therefore special care is needed when preparing the translation.
At Elion, as professional representatives before the SPTO, we can prepare and file the validation of an EP for you. The translations into Spanish are done by patent translation specialists, yet the European patent attorney of our team that is the most experienced in the technical field of the invention of the EP reviews the translation into Spanish before filing to minimize potential loss of scope of protection. No additional costs are incurred for the revision of the translation, and the validation in Spain is conducted by Elion in a cost-effective manner.
Should you be interested in validating your European Patent in Spain, feel free to contact us at [email protected] and/or (+34) 91 005 90 92.