Nice classification, 10th edition

Registrable as a trade mark are all signs which are capable of distinguishing in the market the goods or services of one undertaking from those of other undertakings and are capable of being represented graphically, such as words, names, acronyms, letters, numbers, devices, emblems, three-dimensional forms, the three-dimensional form of a product or its packaging, sound marks and any combination of the mentioned signs. Color per se is not accepted to registration as a trade mark.
The following trade mark types are registrable: trade marks, service marks, trade names, collective marks and certification marks.

The application is filed at the Spanish Patent and Trade Mark Office. E-filing is available.
Multiple-class applications are possible.
Foreign applicants any owner/applicant without an address in the European Community will have to have a local agent to act before the Spanish Office.
A non-legalized power of attorney is sufficient.
Foreign applicants do not need a domestic registration.
The application process includes a formal examination and an examination on absolute grounds for refusal, but no search for prior trade marks. Relative grounds for refusal are only examined if opposition is filed.
The processing time from first filing to registration or first office action is approx. 6 to 12 months.
An accelerated procedure is possible upon payment of a fee. It is currently only applied to Spanish national applications which serve as basis for International Registrations, to assure that the Spanish PTO does not forward the file to WIPO until the Spanish application has been resolved.
Before registration, the trade mark application is published in the “Boletin Oficial de la Propiedad Industrial”, issued daily. Notices of registrations and rejections are published as well.

National:
The opposition period against national filings is 2 months from publication date of the application.

Opposition against designation of IR Mark
(The period starts from the national publication date, if not stated differently):
2 months

Protection begins with the final registration, but dates back to the date of application. A trade mark registration is valid for 10 years from date of application. The registration is renewable for periods of 10 years.
Trade marks applied for prior to May 12th, 1989 are valid for 20 years from the date of registration. Renewals are valid for 10 years after May 12th, 1989.

If the trade mark has not been used within 5 years from the publication of the registration, it may be subject to cancellation. Subsequent use of the trade mark can restore protection if no party has requested cancellation due to non-use in the meantime.

The official fee for a trade mark application if filed in paper is EUR 141.73 for a single class and EUR 91.81 for each additional class; if e-filing is used the official fees are EUR 120.47 for a single class and EUR 78.04 for each additional class.

Trademark Licence Agreement
In Spain a licence agreement can be granted orally or in writing, but it is advisable to be in writing for enforcement purposes. It is permitted to license the use of unregistered trademarks. A registration of a trademark has to be based on a pending trademark application or a valid trademark registration. Trademark applications and trademark registrations may be licensed for some or all of the goods or services covered and for all or part of the territory of Spain. Licences may be exclusive or non-exclusive. In the absence of special stipulations in the licence contract, the sale of a registered trademark terminates the licence if it is not registered, while the licence remains in force if it is registered.

The Spanish Trademark Act establishes that
1. Except otherwise agreed, a licensee may not transfer the licence to any third parties, nor may he grant sub-licences
2. Except otherwise agreed, a licensee shall be entitled to use the trademark for the entire duration of the registration, and throughout the territory of Spain, for all the goods or services for which the marks has been registered.
3. Except otherwise agreed, licences shall be deemed non-exclusive, and the licensor shall be entitled to grant additional licences and to use the mark himself.
4. Where a licence is an exclusive licence, the licensor shall only be entitled to use the trademark himself if his right to do so has been expressly reserved in the licence agreement.

Recordal
There are provisions in law for the recordal of a licensee with the Trademark Office. Recordal is voluntary, but only licences duly recorded in the Register shall be effective as against third parties. There is no time frame for a recordal. The application for recordal may be filed on the official PTO forms accompanied by a proof of payment of the corresponding official fee as well as a simple power of attorney signed by the licensee. The PTO must record agreements in six months in the absence of objections.

Effectiveness
A licence agreement is enforceable against third parties upon recordal in the Register. The PTO publishes the recordal.

Infringement Proceedings
There is an evidentiary presumption that use by a registered licensee is permitted use. A licensee may join the trademark owner in infringement proceedings. If the licensee does not hold an exclusive licence, he may call upon the trademark owner to institute infringement proceedings. If the proprietor refuses or neglects to institute proceedings, the registered user can institute proceedings in his own name after a period of three months.

Search type	First class	Add. class
Word Mark Search (availability)	220,00 €	50,00 €
Word Mark Search (identical)	60,00 €	20,00 €
Extended Search (word mark, company name, domain)	350,00 €	50,00 €
Device Mark Search (availability)	330,00 €	190,00 €
Trademark Owner Search	140,00 €
Company Name Search	150,00 €
Domain Name Search (extended)	72,00 €
i-Search (word mark availability + legal opinion)	450,00 €	125,00 €

The Prices above are S.M.D. Markeur Search Fees