Are you thinking about a legal protection for you invention but you are not sure, which option is it going to serve you better? Patent or Utility Model? What shall you choose?

General Infos:

Patents and utility models protect technical inventions that are new, based on an inventive step and commercially applicable. Such technical property rights play an important role in business decisions. They – for instance- allow economic benefits to be derived from the invention, e.g. by granting licenses.

Differences between patents and utility models:

While a patent is subject to a detailed examination by patent examiners for novelty, inventive step, a utility model is a pure registration right, in which only the formal requirements are examined. For instance: the fact whether it is a technical invention or not. In this way, a fully-fledged, enforceable property right can be obtained quickly by applying for a utility model. However, since there is no detailed examination for novelty and inventive step, it is often questionable whether a registered utility model actually meets the relevant requirements, because it is only in the event of a dispute that it is determined whether the utility model is actually legally valid.

Further differences between patent and utility model are the maximum term (patent 20 years, utility model 10 years, in each case from the filing date) and the fact that proceedings/processes cannot be protected with a utility model. In addition, in contrast to the patent, utility model protection is not available in all countries, and there is no European or international utility model application.

However, it is always recommendable to discuss your case with a qualified patent attorney or a legal patent expert. Our law firm is based on expertise and qualifications. Make sure to book an appointment before it is too late. Before the registration, you still have time to recover a possible mistake. If you are being accused of having made a mistake afterward, you are not going to have so much time. Start now – fill out our form and click on “submit”.