RELEVANT NEWS ABOUT THE RESOLUTIONS THAT EXHAUST THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANNEL OF THE SPANISH PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE.
NEW DISTRIBUTION OF JURISDICTION FOR APPEALS AGAINST RESOLUTIONS OF THE SPANISH PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE.
On July 28, 2022, the Organic Law 7/2022, of July 27, was published in the BOE, which modifies the Organic Law of the Judicial Power regarding Commercial Courts.
Although it introduces several modifications, in this document we are only going to refer to those that affect the industrial property.
In this sense, the reform transfers the reviewing competence of the resolutions that exhaust the administrative channel of the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office of the Courts of Justice to the Sections specialized in industrial property of the Provincial Courts. The modification will enter into force on January 14, 2023, thus coinciding with the day of the empowerment of the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office to declare the nullity and expiration of the distinctive signs regulated in the Trademark Law.
And that competence corresponds to the sections of the Provincial Courts that are currently specialized in commercial matters, with two existing forums: the domicile of the appellant as long as there is functional competence, and Madrid, as it is the headquarters city of the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office.
ORAL TRIAL
These resources will be substantiated by the formalities of the oral trial, being legitimate for their interposition with the parties that had intervened in the previous administrative procedure whose resolution is appealed.
The term to file the appeal will be the same as always: two months counted from the day following the notice or publication in the Official Gazette of Industrial Property of the resolution issued if it is express. If it were not, the term shall be six months and shall be counted from the day following the day on which the alleged act occurs.
RESOURCES
The reform does not completely forget the Courts of Justice since, as a novelty, it introduces the power of the Civil Courts of the High Courts of Justice to hear appeals for procedural infringement against judgments issued by the Provincial Courts in appeals against decisions that exhaust administrative remedies issued in industrial property matters by the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office. On the other hand, the Supreme Court will hear appeals in cassation against judgments handed down by the Provincial Courts in such appeals against decisions that exhaust administrative remedies in industrial property matters.