After the Spanish Government enacted the State of Alarm due to the current pandemic, the fulfillment of administrative timeframes before the Spanish Trademark and Patent Office (OEPM) and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has been suspended and interrupted. Below, we clarify how this situation will be implemented in both offices as well as in the Spanish legal system.

Administrative bodies.

  • OEPM

The Director of this Office has issued a resolution implementing the Royal Decree 463/2020, declaring the State of Alarm for the health crisis management caused by COVID-19. This communication states the following:

– Administrative procedures taking place before this office are suspended and interrupted.

– The periods of prescription and expiry time limit of legal actions and rights enforceable before the SPTO are suspended.

However, users may continue to use the OEPM’s e-services for the filing of new applications, and submit writs and allegations according to the pre-established deadline as usual. The Office will then proceed to assess the files, although some delay may be expected.

These measures will remain in force as long as the State of Alarm is maintained and the calculation of time limits will be retaken once the Royal Decree as well as any prorogue thereof is not in force anymore.

  • EUIPO

By decision of the Executive Director Decision No EX-20-3 of the Executive Director of the Office of 16 March 2020, all the pending deadlines in relation to proceedings before the Office for the timeframe comprising  March 9 to May 1, 2020  (in practice May 4), are extended.

Time limits that relate to proceedings before other authorities are not covered by the extension, such as action brought before the General Court against decisions of the Boards of Appeal. In addition, it only concerns trade mark and design matters being dealt by the Office.

The effect of this decision is automatic, accordingly, affected parties are not required to file a request to the Office for the extension of the time limit to take effect.

However, if the parties are able to comply with the already set deadlines, the Office will examine the files on a regular basis. Also, the filing of trade marks and designs by digital platforms will be available as usual. It is nevertheless important to highlight that in all the ongoing proceedings and new filings we may experience some delay due to the current situation.

Jurisdictional order.

Procedural terms and deadlines are suspended and interrupted for all jurisdictional orders. These measures will remain in force as long as the State of Alarm is maintained and the calculation of time limits will be retaken once the Royal Decree as well as any prorogue thereof is not in force anymore.

The periods of prescription and expiry of time lines of any legal action and rights shall be suspended during the period of validity of the State of Alarm.

In this sense, certain actions in the Criminal and Civil order that, due to its urgent nature cannot be further postponed will be maintained as an exception, mainly those related to the violation of fundamental rights.

The General Council of the Judiciary has agreed that while the State of Alarm is maintained, the submission of procedural documents is not allowed to be done in person, limiting the telematic form to those that have as their sole object procedural actions declared urgent and cannot be postponed by the instructions and agreements of the judges’ governing body. Therefore, filing of lawsuits in our area before the civil/commercial and criminal courts is suspended until the State of Alarm is no longer in force. Precautionary measures can only be requested if we are facing an extremely urgent situation and they cannot be delayed any further.