The OEPM API for trademark search

The Oficina Española de Patentes y Marcas (OEPM) is Spain's national authority responsible for examining and registering trademarks, trade names, patents, utility models, and designs. Headquartered in Madrid and operating under the Ministerio de Industria, Comercio y Turismo, OEPM maintains the Spanish trademark register under the Ley de Marcas 17/2001. The register holds roughly 3 million historical records and receives approximately 50,000 new national trademark applications per year, with continuous coverage stretching back over a century — Spain hosted the diplomatic conference that produced the Madrid Agreement in 1891 and has been part of the international trademark system since it entered into force in 1892.

Because Spain is an EU member state, most applicants who want broad European coverage file an EU trademark (EUTM) at EUIPO — a single EUTM covers all 27 EU countries, Spain included. OEPM's national register exists for the case where applicants only need Spanish protection, want to lock in an earlier Spanish priority date before extending via Madrid, are responding to local prior rights that would block a wider EUTM, or want examination in Spanish under the Ley de Marcas with appeals routed through the Spanish administrative courts. Spain is also a Madrid Protocol member, so it can be designated through WIPO as an alternative to a direct OEPM filing. Under the 17/2001 framework as amended to transpose the EU Trademark Directive, OEPM examines absolute grounds ex officio while relative grounds are only examined when a third party files an opposition during the two-month publication window.

OEPM exposes the register through several channels under its OpenData initiative. The Localizador de Marcas is the free public search for Spanish national trademarks, trade names, and Madrid international registrations designating Spain, accessible without registration through the Sede Electrónica. CEO (Consulta Externa de Expedientes) provides external access to full file histories, including bibliographic data, procedural acts, assignments, and licences. The OpenData portal at sede.oepm.gob.es publishes machine-readable data through web services and bulk formats including XML for third parties to build derived services. The OEPM register is not on Signa yet. It is on the roadmap. Spanish marks reach Signa today through WIPO Madrid designations, and EU trademarks from EUIPO, which cover Spain, are searchable today. Join the waitlist to hear when the OEPM register is added.