It is an industrial property right which, unlike patents for invention, lasts 10 years from the filing date and can be filed in the territories having a law that recognizes such IP rights. In Europe, such territories are: Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey and Ukraine. Globally, the utility model is recognized in various countries, including China, Brazil, Australia, Japan, Russia and South Korea.
Procedure for obtaining the grant and timing
In Italy, the granting process consists of the filing of the application, followed by a formal examination. No further checks are carried out by the Italian Patent and Trademark Office (UIBM), which, after few years, provides with the final grant.
Benefits
The utility model is a right which allows to protect also solutions presenting improvements which, even if they do not constitute a solution to a technical problem, confer a particular utility or ease of use to a certain item (for example. tools, instruments, etc.). It is particularly suited to that type of solutions which, although new, would be hardly considered by the Patent Office as real “inventions”, even though have a certain inventive step.