Intellectual Property: Protect Your Assets Before Competitors Do

Intellectual property (IP) in Spain encompasses industrial property rights — trademarks, patents, utility models, and industrial designs registered before the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (OEPM) — and copyright, which arises automatically upon creation under the Consolidated Text of the Intellectual Property Law (Real Decreto Legislativo 1/1996). EU-level protection is available through the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) for EU trademarks and Community designs, and through the European Patent Office (EPO) for European patents. Trade secrets are protected in Spain under Law 1/2019 on Trade Secrets, transposing EU Directive 2016/943. IP infringement is actionable before Spain's commercial courts, with options for preliminary injunctions, cessation orders, and damages claims.

Intellectual property is today the most valuable asset of many companies, and its protection demands a global, proactive strategy: register before competitors do, correctly contract the rights to creations by employees and suppliers, and act swiftly against any infringement.

Our team has registered more than 500 trademarks in Spain, the European Union, and third countries, and has participated in the negotiation of licence agreements worth tens of millions of euros. We combine legal rigour with a commercial perspective that helps you monetise your intangible assets and turn IP into a sustainable competitive advantage.

The Intangible Value at Stake

In a knowledge economy, the gap between a company’s book value and its market value is largely explained by intangible assets: brands, patents, software, proprietary processes, and customer relationships. Yet many businesses that would never leave a physical asset uninsured operate for years without registering their core trademark in key markets, without IP assignment clauses in their contractor agreements, or without documented procedures for protecting trade secrets.

The consequences of this gap become visible at the worst possible moments: a competitor’s trademark application filed the week before yours, a departing employee who takes client data, or an acquisition process where the buyer’s due diligence reveals that the target does not actually own the software its business depends on.

Registration as the First Line of Defence

Trademark and patent protection in Spain and the EU is first-come, first-served. The OEPM and EUIPO registers are public, and monitoring them is a routine part of our service. We advise clients on the right combination of national, EU, and international registrations to match their geographic footprint and expansion plans, the appropriate trademark classes to cover current and planned activities, and the renewal calendar to ensure no registration lapses inadvertently.

For technology companies, patent strategy requires a different analysis: the window between innovation and public disclosure (including patent filing) is narrow. Filing too late — after a product launch or trade-fair presentation — can destroy novelty and bar protection entirely. We work with your R&D teams to identify patentable innovations early and file applications within the required timelines.

IP in Corporate Transactions

When a company is sold or raises investment, IP becomes a central due diligence issue. Investors and acquirers want certainty: that the company owns its IP outright, that licences are transferable, that no third-party claims are pending, and that the registration portfolio is clean and renewable. Gaps discovered at this stage create negotiating leverage for the buyer and can reduce the valuation of IP-heavy businesses significantly.

Our IP due diligence process maps the complete intangible asset register, verifies ownership chains back to creation, reviews all agreements involving IP exploitation, and identifies any contingencies that should be disclosed, indemnified, or resolved before closing. Post-acquisition, we manage IP portfolio integration and the transfer of registrations to the acquiring entity.

Enforcing Your Rights

IP rights without enforcement are worthless. When infringement is detected — a copycat trademark, an unlicensed use of your software, a competitor selling products that infringe your patent — speed matters. Interim injunctions can halt infringing activity within days. Our team has experience in the full range of enforcement actions: EUIPO oppositions and cancellation proceedings, cease-and-desist letters that produce results, and commercial court litigation when out-of-court routes fail.

Software IP: The Ownership Issue Most Companies Miss

Software is one of the most valuable intangible assets for technology companies and startups — and one of the most vulnerable to ownership uncertainty. A frequent and costly mistake is failing to include clear contractual clauses with developers ensuring that IP rights vest in the company rather than the individual developer.

When software is created by employees within the scope of their employment contract, the assignment of rights operates automatically under Article 97.4 of the Consolidated Text of the Intellectual Property Law (Real Decreto Legislativo 1/1996, TRLPI). However, when development is carried out by a freelancer, an agency, or a subcontracted company, the rights belong to the creator unless they have been expressly assigned. This distinction has enormous practical consequences: a company can operate for years on software it does not legally own because the development contract with the provider did not include an assignment of economic rights.

In due diligence processes prior to a merger or acquisition, software IP is a critical review point. An acquirer who discovers post-closing that the target company does not hold full ownership of its core software can claim price reduction or even rescind the transaction. Our team identifies these risks before they materialise, reviewing all development agreements and mapping the ownership chain for each critical system.

Trademark Protection and Unfair Competition

Trademark registration and protection against unfair competition are complementary tools. A registered trademark can be infringed by the use of identical or confusingly similar signs, but there are also acts of unfair competition that do not require brand confusion: imitation of unregistered distinctive elements, abusive comparative advertising, denigration of competitors, or free-riding on another’s reputation.

Spain’s Trade Secrets Act (Law 1/2019, transposing EU Directive 2016/943) establishes that know-how that cannot be patented can still be protected if reasonable confidentiality measures are in place. Trade secret protection has real litigation value when the holder can demonstrate: (i) the information has commercial value by virtue of being secret; (ii) reasonable measures have been taken to keep it secret (NDAs, access controls, internal policies); and (iii) the defendant obtained the information unlawfully — for example, through a former employee or a cyberattack. We coordinate trade secret protection strategy with our cybersecurity team to ensure that technical and legal measures are coherent and mutually reinforcing.

Domain Names and Online Brand Protection

Brand protection in the digital environment extends beyond trademarks to domain names, social media handles, and online marketplaces. Cybersquatting — registering domain names that incorporate a third party’s trademark in bad faith — is a common problem that can divert traffic, damage brand reputation, and confuse consumers. We manage Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) proceedings before WIPO and other arbitration centres to recover domains registered in bad faith, and advise on proactive domain registration strategies to protect brand assets before squatters can act.

For companies operating e-commerce platforms or selling through third-party marketplaces, brand protection requires monitoring and enforcement capabilities that go beyond traditional trademark registration: platform takedown requests, anti-counterfeiting programmes, and cross-border coordination when infringing goods are shipped from outside the EU.

Spanish and EU IP Regulatory Framework

The Spanish intellectual property framework combines several legislative pillars: trademarks and trade names are registered before the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (OEPM) under Law 17/2001 on Trademarks, or before the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) under EU Regulation 2017/1001; patents of invention and utility models are governed by Patent Law 24/2015; copyright arises from creation without registration under Real Decreto Legislativo 1/1996; and trade secrets are protected under Law 1/2019, transposing EU Directive 2016/943. The EU trademark grants protection across all 27 EU member states through a single EUIPO registration at moderate cost, while the WIPO Madrid System allows protection to be extended to more than 130 countries through a centralised procedure.

For startups in early growth phases, the combination of trademark protection, IP assignment clauses in development contracts, and a documented trade secrets policy forms the core of a robust IP strategy that protects value for future investors or acquirers. A pending patent application already generates priority effect against subsequent filings and serves as a formal asset in financing rounds and negotiations with partners or potential buyers. Many startups underestimate the value of their IP portfolio until they attempt a sale or a capital raise — by which point the window for proactive protection may have closed.