A US patent very similar to a Spanish patent

Question

In reference to the patent: US8336498

This US patent describes a system very similar to a system patented in Spain. When the applicants wanted the same system patented in the EU it was discharged due to a tiny similarity a US patent. For details about the patent see: http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/originalDocument?FT=D&date=20070816&DB=worldwide.espacenet.com&locale=en_EP&CC=ES&NR=2257122B2&KC=B2&ND=4 When the page is open please push Download and you will see the Spanish patent accepted 23th July 2007. The English version not accepted by EU patent office you can open on: https://data.epo.org/publication-server/result-page?iAction=3&pn=1676477&ki=A1&cc=EP and push pdf. Does this mean that a Spanish patent with a very similar system is not considered to cancel the novelty of a later patent proposal?

Answer 1

It's not an issue of EU v. Spain v. USA. To the best of my understanding (and my limited Spanish language skills), the Spanish document does not appear to anticipate the invention described in the US patent. Specifically, the invention described in the US patent appears to be concerned with the doubly sloped bottom of each of the raceways.