Utility model

A utility model is a registered right that protects a technical invention, much like a patent but easier to obtain and shorter in term. It is sometimes called a petty patent or short-term patent; in Germany it is known as the Gebrauchsmuster. The owner can stop others from making, selling or using the protected solution without consent and can grant licenses to it.

Utility models exist in a number of countries, including Germany, the Czech Republic, China and Japan. The US and the UK have no utility model, and there is no EU-wide utility model either, so protection is always national. Note that in the US the term "utility patent" means an ordinary patent for an invention, not a utility model.

A utility model can protect a technical solution that is new, involves an inventive contribution and is industrially applicable. In many countries the required inventive level is lower than for a patent. Typical subject matter is the design of a product, tool, fixture or mechanism, or an electrical circuit. In most countries, methods and manufacturing processes can only be protected by a patent, and computer programs as such are excluded. The mere appearance of a product is covered by a registered design (in the US, a design patent).

In most countries the office does not carry out a substantive examination of novelty or inventive level. It checks the formal requirements and whether the subject matter is excluded from protection. Registration is therefore fast, often within months, and official fees are lower than for a patent. Validity is usually tested only later, typically when a competitor requests cancellation or invalidation. The scope of protection is defined by the claims.

In all four countries named above, protection lasts at most 10 years from the filing date, subject to renewal fees. It applies only in the country of registration; protection abroad requires further applications, usually within the 12-month priority period.

A utility model suits design improvements that might not be enough for a patent, products with a shorter life cycle, and any case where protection is needed quickly, for example before a product launch or before meetings with investors and manufacturers. In several countries, including Germany, the same invention can be covered by a utility model and a patent application in parallel. The utility model then provides enforceable protection while the patent application is still being examined. Companies based in countries without utility models, such as the US, can still file them in countries that offer them.

Before filing, have the patent databases searched: it saves fees on a solution that already exists and often shows how to adjust the design to set it apart. Both the search and the wording of the claims are best left to a patent attorney.

The most common and irreversible mistake is disclosing the solution before the application is filed. A trade show presentation, a video, an article, the sale of the first units or a quote sent out without a confidentiality agreement can make the solution part of the prior art and destroy its novelty. Some countries grant a limited grace period for the applicant's own disclosure, but it is not universal. File before any disclosure, and until then share documents only under an NDA.

An unexamined registration is no proof of validity: if the solution was not new, the other side in a dispute can have the utility model canceled. Claims drafted too narrowly let competitors work around the protection with a small design change. Owning a utility model also does not guarantee that your product does not infringe other people's patents or utility models. Settle ownership in advance, too: agree on who will own the rights to solutions developed together with external design engineers or suppliers.