Patents - Utility Models

Patents - Utility Models will be registered for inventions. Essential conditions are novelty as compared with prior art as well as inventiveness.

Whereas a patent normally implies a thorough and time-consuming examination and registration procedure, registration of a utility model ("petty patent") is (normally) possible after conducting an essentially formal application procedure, taking into account lesser requirements regarding inventiveness as well as a potential period of grace regarding novelty for applicants.

Besides national Austrian patent and utility models there exist possibilities of applications and registrations of regional protective rights (e.g. European Patent), of a combined application and search procedure (PCT application) for a multitude of countries as well as of applications and registrations of national protective rights in most countries.

Patents - Utility Models entitle the proprietor to prohibit the industrial production, marketing, sale, commercial use as well as import or ownership of the invention by other parties.

The duration of patent is normally restricted to 20 years (utility models for example 10 years), provided that relevant renewal fees are paid.