Patents in Spain

The other day I had a meeting with the Spanish Office for Patents and Trademarks. They gave me some high-level indicators of the situation of patents in Spain. The figures are taken from the notes I took during the conversation, so they may not be accurate. Nevertheless, they are interesting and show the (poor) state of play in Spain.

• 3000 Patents per year in Spain
  —CSIC: 130 patents/y
  —All univs: 300 patents/y
  —Grupo Antolin: 20/y
  —Most patents are in pharma sector
  —350 patents/year in ICT area
• EPO denies 20% of patents
  —What is accepted usually is modified since original filing
• ICT patents typically last around 7 to 8 years
• 5% of patents reach market
• Two types of patents
  —High quality (with exam)
  —Low quality (no exam)
• Filing patent in Spain costs 480€, legal support up to 3000€
• 12-18 months between filing patent in Spain and decision of world-wide coverage (involves costs)

Judge for yourself, but I think we have some work to do here ...