Europe-wide utility model could protect inventions

Next week, the European Parliament in Strasbourg will give an opinion on a European Commission proposal to set out legal arrangements for protecting inventions using a Europe-wide utility model to ensure that the internal market works properly.

The objective is to promote business competitiveness, especially that of small and medium-sized enterprises, and to encourage innovation by harmonising at the Community level the effective protection given to technical inventions under national legislation on utility models.

Utility models are registered rights, which confer on their owners exclusive protection for technical inventions. These protection rights can be obtained more rapidly and cheaply than patents but the protection they provide is legally less secure.