SPAIN, EU and LATAM: Main legislative IP developments 2019/20

Main legislative IP developments 2019/20

We are glad to present you the following annual report summarizing the main legislative Intellectual Property developments occurred in Spain, European Union (EU) and Latin America during 2019 and the beginning of 2020.z

Last year was special for UNGRIA since we consolidated our international presence through our three own offices in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. In addition to our team in Spain and the USA, the LATAM team started to directly represent our clients before the local Offices.

Among the many relevant changes we outline below, we would like to highlight in Spain, the partial entry into force of the current amended Trademark Law, which adapted the Spanish Regulation to those belonging to the remaining European Union countries by incorporating into the national Spanish Law those provisions established by Directive (EU) 2015/2436 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2015 and the new Trade Secret Law 1/2019.

In the EU, the entry into force of the new European Regulation (EU) 2019/933, on supplementary protection certificates (SCP) for medicinal products, the new Guidelines for Examination published by the European Patent Office (EPO), the latest news about the Unitary Patent and Unified Court and the effects of BREXIT in relation to European Union Trademarks (EUTMs).

In Latin America, especially in Argentina, where the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) issued different Regulations to implement the changes introduced by Decree 27/2018 and Law 27,444 in the procedures of the different Industrial Property Institutes and, in Brazil, where the implementation of the Resolutions 241/19 and 240/19 started to reduce the back-log in the patent examination procedure. Lastly, in Mexico, where the Mexican Federal Health Secretariat published a decision whereby the importation of medicines from other countries without a prior sanitary registration granted by the Federal Commission for Protection against Sanitary Risks (COFEPRIS) shall be permitted.