Spain’s IPO head justifies UPC rebuff

The director general of Spain’s Patent and Trademark Office has supported the government’s decision to opt out of the unitary patent and said that EU member states will be forced to reflect on the importance of the Spanish language and technology.

Speaking to WIPR, Patricia Garcia-Escudero said she stood by the government’s decision to not participate in the patent and the concurrent Unified Patent Court (UPC).

Last year, the Court of Justice of the European Union ended Spain’s legal challenge to the UPC Agreement.

The bone of contention was the exclusion of Spanish as an official language of the UPC, which Spain described as discriminatory. The official languages are English, French and German.

“Spanish is one of the most spoken languages in the world, and it is widely used on the internet. So we wanted them to consider Spanish as an official language of the UPC,” Garcia-Escudero said.

“During the negotiations, one of our proposals was either to include the Spanish language or to have just one official language: English. They didn’t approve either offer, so we stayed out.”

Garcia-Escudero said the decision not to participate will force member states to “reflect on the importance of the Spanish language and technology”.

She added that small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will be disadvantaged by the exclusion of the Spanish language.

“Spanish SMEs will have fewer rights than an English, French or German company because of the language barrier,” she said. “We are always defending the rights of Spanish SMEs—which make up 99% of Spain’s economy,” she added.

Garcia-Escudero was speaking to WIPR as part of a wide-ranging interview on intellectual property in Spain and the workings of the country’s IP office. You can read the full article on www.worldipreview.com at a later date.