The CNMC warns about the "negative effects" of excessive protection of industrial property

It recommends avoiding the creation of monopolies in certain sectors where innovation is "crucial", such as pharmaceuticals

MADRID, 23 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) has assessed the draft bill that modifies the three regulations that regulate industrial property -the law of trademarks, the law of patents and the legal protection of industrial design-, pointing out that they must take into account the negative effects of excessive protection of industrial property rights.

Specifically, the CNMC has warned that the new law must safeguard the interests of the holders of industrial property rights, but it cannot lose the balance between these and overprotection, adjusting to the general principles of necessity, proportionality and not discrimination.

In addition, in its assessment report, the CNMC has focused on the pharmaceutical market since this bill would grant monopolies to pharmaceutical inventions without guaranteeing their innovative nature.

Among the positive aspects, the CNMC has highlighted that the three laws be modified jointly, since greater coherence, uniformity and consistency between them is achieved, and that administrative burdens in industrial designs are reduced.

The CNMC had already analyzed these three laws in previous reports and on this occasion it has stated that "the recommendation made in 2018 on the legitimacy of non-exclusive licensees in trademark law has not been followed."

In said report, the CNMC proposed that the regulations be more flexible and legitimize the licensee who considers himself harmed, even when his license does not expressly authorize him to take legal action for a violation of trademark law.

In its report, the CNMC has included a series of recommendations, among which it stands out to base "better" the amounts of the fees or to reconsider the requirements demanded to act as an industrial property agent.

Thus, in the economic aspect, the CNMC is committed to reviewing the subjective scope of the bonuses to avoid benefiting operators depending on whether they are publicly or privately owned.

Regarding patent applications, it has recommended the extension to all operators, public and private, of the possibility of making provisional applications, unless there are "overriding reasons of general interest" that justify their restricted use. In addition, the possibility of going to regulatory test benches or 'sandboxes' to contrast possible regulatory improvements is recalled.

Finally, it has pointed out the need to "rethink utility models", since these recognize the right to exclusively exploit an invention and, consequently, scenarios of monopolies are produced in inventions that "do not meet" their own standards of demand. of patents. In this sense, the CNMC has once again targeted the pharmaceutical sector, as it is a market where innovation is "crucial" and in which competition problems often arise.