A new Patent Act … In two years' time? (I)

Publication this summer of the new Patent Act, Act no. 24/2015 (in Spanish) of 24 July 2015, in the Official State Gazette (BOE) has resulted in the appearance of a flurry of urgent commentary and reviews in a wide range of different media outlets. This reaction comes as a bit of a surprise: while all law reform is newsworthy, what we have in this case is an Act that will not come into force until … 1 April 2017!!

This unusually protracted vacatio legis (22 months) highlights the far-reaching scope of the revision while at the same time likewise attesting to prudence on the part of lawmakers.

Not only will industry need some time to adapt, because certain changes (e.g., the change-over to a single system for grant involving the preliminary examination of all patent applications) will require major adjustments to current thinking and practice, but implementing the changes will require the Administration to undertake its own re-organization, with no room for improvisation.

For once the government is to be commended for not rushing headlong to put a law on the statute books when enforcement will hinge on a particularly arduous process of setting up the requisite implementing regulations. The painful examples of other, premature reform attempts (copyright, for instance?) are still with us.

The delay, amply justified as it is for the broad sweep of administrative adjustments needed by the Patent Office, is more vexing when it comes to other areas. As it evolved, the new Patent Act came to contain more and more changes bearing on legal proceedings and procedure. In the end, unexpectedly, the Act ushers in a whole aggiornamento addressing patent litigation proceedings (with collateral effects extending to other types of industrial property), so it will be bound to resonate. It is indeed unfortunate that we will be kept on tenterhooks for so long awaiting the tantalizing prospects for legal proceedings that the Act holds out to us.

ELZABURU will be reviewing and assessing the new Act in a series of posts that will be appearing on our blog in the coming weeks for our clients, colleagues, and friends. Until then, we can look forward with expectation to this new Act, that will be so long in coming, like a long-awaited dish of a favourite food.

Blog entries dealing with the new Patent Act:

I. A new Patent Act … In two years' time? (Antonio Castán)

II. 180º turn in Spain's system of granting patents  (Francisco J. Sáez)

III. The importance of professional advice (Francisco J. Sáez)

IV. Lawsuits under the new Patent Act (Antonio Castán)
V. Utility models under the new Patent Act (Pedro Saturio)

Author: Antonio Castán

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