If you have an idea or a product that you want to protect, Ficotec will advise you on the necessary procedures and steps to register a trademark and graphic distinctive, as well as the renewal procedure, as a differentiating character in the business field “.

PATENTS

Protecting the results of an innovation by means of a patent is the optimal way to make R&D investment profitable, since as part of the intangible assets of companies this IP right contributes to create, in a decisive way, value for our public and private clients.

As specialists in the sector and backed by our experience and international presence, at Ficotec we offer comprehensive advice and ongoing dialogue with our clients, helping them to choose the best strategy for the protection of inventions anywhere in the world.

INVENTION PATENT

For an invention to be patentable, it must be new, involve an inventive step, and be susceptible of industrial application. It may be subject to examination, for which purpose it will be compared with the “State of the Art”, i.e. everything that prior to the filing date of the application has been made available to the public in Spain or abroad.

The duration of the Patent is for twenty years from the filing date of the application. To keep it in force, annual fees must be paid from the date it is granted.

  • ARE NOT CONSIDERED INVENTIONS:

– Discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods.

– Literary or artistic works or any other aesthetic creation, as well as scientific works.

– Plans, rules and methods for the exercise of intellectual activities, for games or for economic-commercial activities, as well as computer programs.

– The ways of presenting information.

– Methods of surgical or therapeutic treatment of the human or animal body, or diagnostic methods applied to the human or animal body.

– Inventions whose publication or exploitation is contrary to public order or morality. In particular, this includes: procedures for cloning human beings, procedures for modifying the genetic identity of human beings, the use of embryos for industrial or commercial purposes and procedures for modifying the genetic identity of animals which cause suffering to animals without substantial medical or veterinary benefit to man or animal, and animals resulting from such procedures.

– Plant varieties and animal breeds.

– Essentially biological processes for obtaining plants or animals.

– The human body in the different stages of its constitution and development, as well as the simple discovery of one of its elements, including the sequence or partial sequence of a gene.

  • EXTENSION OF PROTECTION ABROAD

To protect an invention in other member countries of the Paris Union Convention or the World Trade Organization, the applicant may exercise the right of priority. By virtue of this right, the applicant has a period of 12 months from the filing date of his application in Spain to file it in other countries, maintaining as filing date of those subsequent applications, the filing date in Spain (priority date).

EUROPEAN PATENT

The Munich Convention on the European Patent allows protection to be obtained by direct application in up to 38 countries over which protection is sought and which are party to the European Patent Convention.

The European Patent application is processed by the European Patent Office and the grant produces the effect of a National Patent in each of the States for which it is granted.

– PROCESSING

The European Patent granting procedure is divided into three phases. The first one starts with an examination of formalities and a compulsory search report, ending with the publication of the European patent application and the search report.

The second stage consists of a substantive examination and only takes place at the request of the applicant. If interested third parties oppose the grant of the patent, a third opposition phase may take place. This opposition phase takes place after the European patent has been granted.

Once the grant of the Patent has been published in the European Patent Bulletin, it must be validated in all the countries indicated in the application.

INTERNATIONAL PATENT

The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), allows through the application of this modality, the possibility of protecting your invention worldwide in 148 countries.

The PCT facilitates the processing of applications for the protection of inventions when such protection is desired in several countries, by establishing a system whereby the filing of a single application produces the same effects as if the application had been filed in each of the countries desired and designated by the applicant.

The patent application is processed before the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The patent process includes the phases of international search and publication of the application. Subsequently in the entry into the national phases is when the examination and the concession is carried out but processed in the offices of the designated countries or regions.

BRANDS

The implementation of an appropriate brand strategy is an essential element for the successful marketing of any product or service.

At Ficotec we help our clients to choose the right brand, to protect and defend it, taking into account the positioning and degree of internationalization of each company. Thanks to our extensive experience with thousands of companies, we provide a comprehensive service ranging from preliminary research to determine the viability of the trademark to its registration in any country in the world where our client operates.

TYPES OF BRANDS

  • DENOMINATIVE: arbitrary or fanciful names. Company names, pseudonyms and proper names. Figures, letters, etc.
  • GRAPHICS: graphic symbols, logos, drawings.
  • MIXED: the combination of denominative and graphic elements.
  • TRIDIMENSIONAL: the packaging and wrapping, the shape of the product.

TRADE NAMES

The Commercial Name is the sign or denomination that identifies a company in the mercantile traffic and that serves to distinguish it from the other companies that develop identical or similar activities.

  • COMPANY NAME

Unlike the Commercial Name, the Corporate Name is the name that identifies a legal entity as a subject of legal relations and, therefore, susceptible of rights and obligations, but its registration in the Commercial Registry does not grant exclusive rights over such name.

The duration of the protection conferred is for ten years from the date of filing of the application and may be renewed indefinitely. Fees are required for maintenance.

COMMUNITY MARK

The CTM has effect throughout the European Union.

It has a unitary character, i.e. it can only be requested and, if necessary, granted for the whole territory of the European Union.

The CTM is granted for a period of 10 years from the date of application. The registration may be renewed indefinitely for successive periods of 10 years.

INTERNATIONAL BRAND

The International Trademark is part of a trademark registration system for countries that are covered by the International Treaties or Conventions of the Madrid Agreement and Protocol.

  • PROCESSING

The Madrid System achieves the simplification and unification of procedures in order to obtain a registration in each of the designated countries with the same rights and obligations as if it were a National Trademark.

With a single application, protection can be obtained in a multitude of countries, and can subsequently be extended to other member countries of the system at any time by means of an application for territorial extension.

  • REQUIREMENTS

In order to be able to apply for an International Trademark before the SPTO, it is compulsory to have a Spanish National Trademark with the following particularities:

– In order to designate countries party to the Protocol, a basic Spanish application is sufficient, that is to say, to have merely applied for a Trademark in Spain.

– In order to designate countries as parties to the Agreement, the Spanish Trademark must already be registered (granted).

The International Trademark must have identical owner, identical distinctive sign and identical goods or services that are included among those applied for or granted in the National Trademark.

A Community Trademark may also be subject to territorial extension as an International Trademark.

The International Trademark is registered for a period of 10 years, and may be renewed for successive 10-year periods.