Utility Model Law
In some cases, the protection of technical innovations through a utility model represents a valuable alternative or complement to patent protection. BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT advises comprehensively on all merits and particularities of utility model protection, in particular in the scope of a complete, client specific, property rights strategy. Unlike a patent, a utility model has a maximum duration of just 10 years. It does not provide protection against legal proceedings and is entered into the register three to four months following the application, without having been examined as to its material requirements for protection (e.g. novelty). The utility model is, for example, important when an invention has been published at the patent office before the application, for it enjoys a six month period of grace. In the case of infringement of a patent application whose eventual success can not yet be determined, the so-called “branched-off utility model” can be a valuable weapon.
