Industrial Property and the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office

• Industrial property rights are intangible assets that cannot be physically touched or seen, but that can be traded like any other physical property by means of purchases, sales, licences (rental), mortgages, etc.
• Holders of industrial property rights are able to take legal action against anyone who, without the authorisation of the holders, copies, counterfeits, manufactures, imports or sells products or services that are protected by such rights.
• Industrial property rights are only granted through registration.
• Industrial property makes it possible to obtain exclusive rights to certain intangible creations that are protected as real property rights.
• There is an applicable law for each of these rights. The basic texts are as follows.
• Patents and models: Law 24/2015 of 24 July on patents
• Distinctive signs: Law 17/2001 of 7 December on trade marks
• Industrial designs: Law 20/2003 of 7 July on the legal protection of industrial designs.
• Topography of semiconductors: Law 11/1988 of 3 May on the legal protection of topographies of semi-conductor products.

• Geographical Indications for craft and industrial products: Royal Decree 1190/2025, of 26 December, regulating the national procedures for the registration, amendment, and cancellation of geographical indications for craft and industrial products with a supra‑regional territorial scope in the Union Register, as well as certain related aspects in accordance with European Union legislation.

Industrial property must be distinguished from intellectual property.

Intellectual property rights arise as a result of a creation and can be registered in the intellectual property register.

Such rights include copyright relating to artistic, aesthetic, literary, scientific and musical creations, theatrical and cinematographic works, and computer programs, which can be protected as intellectual property.

• Trade marks and trade names. Distinctive signs identifying products or services on the market. These may consist of words, drawings or a combination of the two, and of three-dimensional sounds or shapes.
• Industrial designs . These protect the external visual appearance of a product.
• Patents and utility models . These protect inventions that solve technical problems; they may consist of products and procedures across all fields of technology.

The legal protection provided by industrial property rights in Spain is granted by the Spanish Patents and Trade Mark Office (OEPM), an independent body of the Ministry of Industry and Tourism of the Spanish Public Administration.

Before carrying out any kind of registration, you should consult the OEPM ’s free databases to find out whether other industrial property rights (trade marks, designs, patents) already exist that are the same as or very similar to the one you want to register, as this would prevent it from being protected.

You can also request the services of the Spanish Patents and Trade Mark Office (OEPM) to carry out a search.

The OEPM grants industrial property rights with effect in Spain.

The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) grants trade marks and designs with effect in the European Union (EU) and the European Patent Office (EPO)  grants patents with effect in more than 40 countries, including EU Member States.

The Spanish Patents and Trade Mark Office offers Free and paid services.

The Spanish Patents and Trade Mark Office (OEPM) carries out industrial property training activities.