Utility Models

¨Utility models are especially recommended for small and medium companies which, in practice, make “minor” improvements to existing products or adapting those products to new needs.”

One of the most frequent questions that we face in protecting inventions is about the protection of utility models and the countries in which they can be registered.

Utility models are a registration category that does not exist in all countries and is an exclusive right granted for an invention. It allows the right holder to prevent third parties from commercially using the protected invention, with no permission, for a limited period of time.

A utility model is similar to a patent, so sometimes they are also called “petty patents” or “innovation patents”. Although, logically, they have their differences: Differences between utility model and patent of inventions. 

Countries in which exists utility models:

Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Chile, Denmark, Estonia, Ethiopia, the Russian Federation, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Tajikistan, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

We highlight independently those of Hispanic speech: Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Spain and Uruguay.

And also those belonging to the African Regional Industrial Property Organization (ARIPO): Botswana, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe.

And the 16 countries belonging to the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI): Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Guinea Bissau, Senegal, Chad, Togo.

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