Visitor's guide
The Patent Showcase of the University of Malaga UMA PATENT comprises the complete and up-to-date patent portfolio of our University, which covers practically all areas of knowledge.
What is a patent?
Patents and, their younger brothers, utility models, are, along with other figures (trademarks, industrial designs, etc.), modalities of industrial property rights, being, patents and utility models, especially oriented to the protection of inventions of a technical nature.
What levels of protection are there?
The levels of protection indicate the geographic space where the patent is recognized for its protection. Thus, we can find the following levels:
• National (the patent is only protected at the national level, that is, only in Spain) •
• Worldwide (PCT countries) (the patent is protected worldwide in the signatory countries of the Patent Cooperation Treaty, which are currently 142 countries)
• International (the patent is protected in those foreign countries that have been designated)
What stages of processing can we find in patents?
The processing states give us information about the status of the patent, that is, whether it is granted or not and whether its protection has been extended to other countries. In this case, we will find the following states:
• International patent (the patent is granted in certain designated foreign countries)
• Spanish patent (the patent is granted in national territory, that is, Spain)
• Spanish patent and international patent (the patent is granted in Spain and in other foreign countries that have been designated)
• Spanish patent and international protection application (the patent is granted in Spain and its protection has been requested in other designated foreign countries)
• Spanish patent and worldwide (PCT countries) protection application (the patent is granted in Spain and its protection has been requested worldwide in the signatory countries of the Patent Cooperation Treaty)
• Spanish protection application (the patent has been applied for only in Spain and has not yet been granted)
• International protection application (the patent has been applied for in certain foreign countries and has not yet been granted)
• Wordwide (PCT countries) protection application (the patent has been applied for worldwide before the signatory countries of the PCT convention, but it has not yet been decided in which specific countries it will be protected)
• Spanish protection application in priority period (the patent has been applied for in Spain and has not yet been granted, but it is still possible to initiate protection at a global or international level)
What can be protected by patent?
Patents allow the protection of products (devices, compositions, computer systems, etc.), methods (of manufacture, use, operation, etc.), and applications (that is, uses of both products and methods or procedures) . For their part, utility models only allow the protection of products (neither procedures nor uses) of relatively simple complexity and generally framed in the field of Mechanics or Engineering.
What is a patent for?
Patents and utility models constitute a legal agreement between the owner of the patent or utility model in question and the State. The fundamental consequences of said agreement are, on the one hand, that the owner can prevent others (third parties) from exploiting what he has protected by patent or utility model without authorization or compensation for it, and, on the other, that the State encourages the development of new knowledge and technologies.
What rights does a patent confer?
According to article 50.1 of the Patent Law, the patent confers on its owner, among others, the right to prevent any third party who does not have his consent:
a) The manufacture, the offer, the introduction into the trade or the use of a product object of the patent or the import or possession of it for any of the aforementioned purposes.
b) The use of a procedure object of the patent or the offer of said use, when the third party knows, or the circumstances make it evident that the use of the procedure is prohibited without the consent of the patent holder.
c) The offer, the introduction into the trade or the use of the product directly obtained by the procedure object of the patent or the importation or possession of said product for any of the aforementioned purposes.
However, it should also be taken into account that the rights contained in the patent do not extend, among others cited in article 52 of the Patent Law, to:
a) Acts carried out in a private sphere and for non-commercial purposes.
b) Acts carried out for experimental purposes that refer to the object protected by the patent.
On the other hand, it is important to know that one produces its effects from the day the mention that it has been granted is published. However, as of the date of its publication, the patent application confers on its owner a provisional protection consisting of the right to demand compensation, reasonable and appropriate to the circumstances, from any third party who, between that date and the date of publication of the mention that the patent has been granted would have carried out a use of the invention that after that period would be prohibited by virtue of the patent. This same provisional protection will be applicable even before the publication of the application in front of the person to whom the presentation and its content had been notified.
How long does a patent last?
In principle, a patent lasts for twenty (20) non-extendable years, counted from the filing date of the application and takes effect from the day the mention that it has been granted is published. However, in the case of patents related to phytosanitary products or pharmaceutical products, it is possible to obtain an additional protection of 5 years ("Complementary Protection Certificate".
In the case of utility models, the maximum duration is 10 years.
In any case, that the rights conferred by the utility model or by the patent survive during those 10 or 20 (25) years is subject, among others, to the timely payment of maintenance fees, payable annually.
How are the rights protected by a patent acquired?
Patents, from the moment they are applied for and even after they have been granted, are intangible and patrimonial assets that can be a business object.
In a simplified way, patents can be assigned or licensed. The sale of the patent should be understood as an assignment, so that the original owner of the patent ("assignor"), through the appropriate contract and under the agreed conditions, no longer owns the patent and the rights it confers in favor of the acquirer. ("assignee"). For its part, the license can be understood as a rental of the rights conferred by the patent, so that the patent owner ("licensor") maintains its property but empowers a third party ("licensee") to exploit the rights. conferred by the patent in the geographical area and for the uses agreed in the corresponding license agreement.
In general, universities offer licenses for their patents, considering their assignment in exceptional cases. If the visitor identifies a patent in the Patent Showcase in whose exploitation or acquisition they have an interest, it is only necessary to contact us through the "CONTACT" section.
It consists of the transfer of the rights of use or economic exploitation by your company of intellectual or industrial property, from the results of the UMA research.
What benefits does it have for the company?
• Allows the company to use, manufacture and / or commercialize a new and available product or procedure, directly.
• The patent license provides legal protection against copies or imitations, helping to position the company in the market.
• There is the possibility of co-financing the cost of the license through public and private programs and tax deductions.
• Patents can be the starting point for collaborations with UMA research groups to carry out projects and contracts.
• Patents granted or published serve as an excellent source of technological information, allowing the company to better understand the competitive environment.
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