Foreign intellectual property from the Andalusian Trade Organization: Services for Andalusian entrepreneurs and businesspeople.

SEVILLE, October 21 (EUROPA PRESS) - The Andalusia Trade Agency, under the Ministry of Economy, Finance, and European Funds of the Andalusian government, will begin providing intellectual property services for entrepreneurs and business owners from Andalusia. The General Director of Andalusia Trade, Antonio Castro, met with the Director of the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (OEPM), Aida Fernandez, to discuss the industrial property services that the Andalusian government offers as an OEPM antenna under a cooperation agreement between the two institutions, the government reported in a press release.

The purpose of this agreement, which is valid until 2027, is to provide information and simplify the procedures related to the protection of inventions, designs, and trademarks for Andalusians. These services will now be provided by Andalucía Trade, as an agency of the Andalusian government that brings together services for the business sector.

Among the services that Andalusia Trade will provide are consultations and registration of applications for patents, trademarks, and designs. The users include individual entrepreneurs, small and medium-sized enterprises, technology centers, and institutions in Andalusia. Registering applications at the offices of the new Andalusian agency grants an effective date for acquiring exclusive rights, although it is currently advised to use online registration through the OEPM electronic portal, which helps reduce costs and processing time.

Qualified employees of Andalusia Trade in all Andalusian provinces will provide personalized and comprehensive advice on choosing the most suitable protection strategy, allowing for cost savings in such a complex process as protecting creativity using industrial property tools. Andalusia Trade, as a Regional Center for Industrial Property, will collaborate in events promoting and disseminating the importance of industrial property protection and will actively participate in campaigns against counterfeiting. Additionally, the agency will cooperate on all projects supported by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the European Patent Office (EPO) that will be beneficial for entrepreneurs in Andalusia, and will actively engage in national and international networks of specialized consulting.

Andalusia Trade is the only regional center in Spain that provides technology monitoring services.

Third place in the registration of industrial property objects.

In 2022, Andalusia registered a total of 154 national patent applications, which represents a 2% increase compared to the previous year. This is according to data published by the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (OEPM). A total of 311 utility model applications were submitted. The number of trademark and trade name applications in 2022 amounted to 8,452 registrations of distinctive signs and 153 applications for industrial designs, bringing the total number of applications for inventions, distinctive signs, and industrial designs to 9,075. Andalusia ranked third among Spanish autonomous communities in terms of registrations, following only Madrid and Catalonia.