PART 5 Fees
Rule 76.
The Industrial Property Registry shall recognize the right to obtain patents without the payment of any fee whatsoever, on the lines laid down in Article 162 of the Law, for those persons who, filing application for an invention of their own, comply with the following requirements:
(a) The application refers to the applicant's own invention.
(b) The applicant evidences income or economic resources in no way exceeding twice the minimum interprofessional salary in force at the time of the application.
Notwithstanding this, the Industrial Property Registry, heeding the applicant's family circumstances, number of children or dependents, state of health, obligations and other similar circumstances, may grant this benefit to those persons whose income or economic resources exceed the said double figure but does not exceed four times the minimum interprofessional salary in force.
(c) To recognize or refuse such right, the Industrial Property Registry shall take into account the income or revenue of the applicant's spouse and the property of the children, legally intended to meet family expense.
(d) This right shall not be recognized whenever the Industrial Property Registry becomes aware, from some external sign or lifestyle, that the applicant has means in excess of that stated in the preceding paragraphs.
Rule 77.
In recognition of the right shall be requested from the Industrial Property Registry by means of an application form, stating the data for evaluation of the applicant's income or resources, setting forth their personal and family circumstances and claim made, with supporting documents. Such application shall be filed within the term set in Article 30 of the Law, applications failing to comply with this requirement being disregarded.
Rule 78.
Once a decision is issued, provisional processing of the case shall proceed, with annotation of the fees and public levies owed.
Decision having been given, the applicant shall be notified.
If rejected she/he shall be granted an eight-day term to settle the total amount of the fees and public prices owed, penalized by nullity if she/he fails to do so.
In the event of a decision recognizing the right, the case shall be processed, recording the amounts incurred respecting each administrative act.
Rule 79.
In the case of recognition of the right, no amount shall be due until payment of the fee corresponding to the fourth annuity. At that same time those amounts, due under all items, up to the moment preceding the request for the report on the state of the art plus the amount of the third annuity, shall be paid.
With the fifth annuity the remaining amounts owed shall be paid.
Rule 80.
Management, settlement and collection of fees shall be in accordance with Articles 8 and 11 of Law 17/1975 of May 2, except for the provisions of paragraph 4 of Article 11 ‘fee schedules' to be replaced by those in the Patent Law.
Rule 81.
Payment of the fees shall in general be required at the time of requesting the service giving rise to them, at the same time notifying the payee who shall ratify them by their signature and by means of the official request form or by the form relating to grant of the patent or utility model, having a ten-day term from the last day of the end of the period to make payment and warning them of the outcome in each case of failure to make ordinary payment, save for the filing fee on applications which, as provided in Article 30 of the Patent Law, shall be paid without any necessary notification whatsoever.
Rule 82.
The annuities necessary to keep a patent or utility model in force shall be paid annually in advance throughout the lifetime of the patent or utility model.
The due date for each annuity shall be the last day of the anniversary month of the filing date of the application, set in virtue of Rules 14 and 41 of the present Implementing Regulations. In the case of the same varying, the last one granted shall be taken into consideration.
The period available for making payment is set at one month.
The term for payment of an annuity elapsing without payment being made, the same may be paid with a 25% surcharge within the first three months and 50% surcharge within the next three months, with a maximum six-month delay. Notwithstanding this, during the time up until the due date for the next annuity, payment may be put in order, paying a fee equivalent to the amount of the twentieth annuity in the case of patents, and equivalent to the tenth annuity in the case of utility models.
TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS
Firstly - Patent of invention applications filed subsequent to the entry into force of Patent Law 11/1986 of March 20, to whose prosecution the rules relating to the report on the state of the art are not applicable, in virtue of transitional provision four of the Law, shall be prosecuted by the procedure in Part 1, Chapter 2, Section One of the present Implementing Regulations, the following likewise being applicable:
(a) If, on the examination conducted in accordance with Rule 17, there are no defects that would prevent grant of the patent, or if the defects are duly overcome, the Industrial Property Registry shall grant the patent, Rule 31.2 being applicable.
(b) The announcement of grant shall be published in the "Official Bulletin of Industrial Property" and shall include the following mentions:
1. The number of the granted patent.
2. The class or classes in which the patent has been included.
3. The concise title of the invention subject of the granted patent.
4. The name and surname(s) or company name and nationality of the applicant, as well as their address and Industrial Property Agent, if any.
5. Abstract of the invention.
6. Date of grant.
7. Possibility of consulting the documents relating to the granted patent.
8. The filing date referred to in Article 22 of the Law and amendments, if any.
9. Application number.
10. Full particulars of the validly claimed priority(ies), if any, shall likewise be mentioned.
(c) Chapter 3 of Part 1, save for Rule 35.1 referring to the change of modality, may be requested by the applicant at any time prior to the decision granting or rejecting the patent.
(d) The brochure to which Rule 32 refers, besides the mentions included in (b) of this transitional provision, shall contain the full text of the description with the claims and the drawings. The "Official Bulletin of Industrial Property" in which the grant has been announced, shall likewise be mentioned.
Secondly - Agents who, upon these Implementing Regulations coming into force, are temporarily not entitled to practice, may continue non-entitled until expiry of the term therefor granted, upon the elapse of which they shall within a one-month term complete the bond in the amount set and take out the corresponding civil liability insurance. Failure to do so shall render the non-entitlement definitive.
Thirdly - Currently registered Industrial Property Agents shall complete the bond into which they have entered in the amount set in Rule 60 within a two-month term, from entry into force of the present Implementing Regulations.
Fourthly - Currently registered Industrial Property Agents shall submit a copy of the civil liability insurance policy, as laid down in these Implementing Regulations, within a two-month term from entry into force hereof.
FINAL PROVISIONS
Firstly - The Ministry of Industry and Energy, at the proposal of the Industrial Property Registry, may regulate the filing of applications, as well as documents and briefs, on magnetic media or by other computerized means.
Secondly - The Industrial Property Registry may, apart from the Patent Register, create whatever information systems may be advisable to facilitate access to the information which, under the Law and these Implementing Regulations, may be of a public nature.
Such information systems:
(a) shall register the information on material means of the type laid down in Rule 52.
(b) shall be accessible both on the premises of the Industrial Property Registry and through telecommunication networks, provided the Industrial Property Registry's technical means permit such and on those conditions the Ministry of Industry and Energy may determine, at the proposal of the Industrial Property Registry.
(c) shall be accessible both under the file number and by means of any other data or combination of data that may be considered of interest to facilitate dissemination of the information collected, provided that the Industrial Property Registry's technical means permit this and on those conditions which the Ministry of Industry and Energy may determine, at the proposal of the Industrial Property Registry.
(d) shall be accessible in accordance with a public pricing system to be determined by Order of the Ministry of Industry and Energy, except for consultation made on the Industrial Property Registry premises and referring to information relating to a particular case with access by the file number, whereupon the same shall be free of charge.
(e) Information may be provided about an individual case or prepared with data relating to other cases.
REPEAL PROVISION
All provisions of equal or inferior status, inconsistent with the present Implementing Regulations, are hereby repealed.
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