TABLE I

Patents / US and Foreign Patent Practice / Petty Patent (Utility Model) Protection / Table I

TABLE I

Country	Date Of First Law	Duration Of Protection	Name	Substantive Examination	Number of Applications Filed in 2006
Andean Community	1992	10 Years	Utility Model	yes
Argentina	1996	10 Years	Utility Model	Yes - Deferred	426
Australia	1979/2001	8 Years	Innovation Patent	No	1076
Austria	1994	10 Years	Utility Model	No	1019
Belgium	1987	6 Years	Short Term Patent	No
Belarus	1997	8 Years	Utility Model	No	141
Brazil	1945*	10 Years	Utility Model	Yes	2984
Bulgaria	1993	10 Years	Utility Model	Yes	96
Colombia	1992	10 Years	Utility Model		171
Chile	1991	10 Years	Utility Model	Yes
China	1985	10 Years	Utility Model	No	161,366
Czech Republic	1992	10 Years	Utility Model	No	1082
Denmark	1991	10 Years	Utility Model	No	335
Finland	1993	8 Years	Utility Model		520
France	1968	6 Years	Utility Certificate	No	381
Georgia					118
Germany	1891	10 Years	Gebrauchsmuster	No	19,766
Greece	1988	7 Years	Utility Model	No	581
Guatemala	1986	10 Years	Utility Model	Yes	17
Hungary	1992	10 Years	Utility Model		285
Indonesia	1991	5 Years	Simple Patent	Yes	268
Ireland	1992	10 Years	Short Term Patent	No
Italy	1934	10 Years	Utility Model	No
Japan	1905	Not > 15 Years	Utility Model	No	10,965
Korea	1961	Not > 15 Years	Utility Model	Yes - But Deferred	32,908
Malaysia	1986	15 Years	Utility Innovation	Yes
Mexico	1991	10 Years	Utility Model	Yes	396
Netherlands	1995	6 Years	Short Term Patent	No
Oapi	1977	10 Years	Utility Model	Limited
Panama	1996	10 Years	Utility Model	Published For Opposition
Peru	1992	10 Years	Utility Model	No	88
Philippines	1947	15 Years	Utility Model	Yes	58
Poland	1924	10 Years	Utility Model	Yes	678
Portugal	1940		Utility Model	Yes	101
Russia	1992	8 Years	Utility Model	No	9699
Slovakia	1992	10 Years	Utility Model	No	343
Spain	1929	10 Years	Utility Model	No	2824
Taiwan	1944	12 Years	Utility Model	Yes	substantial use
Thailand	1999	10 Years	Petty Patent	Yes	3011
Turkey	1995	10 Years	Utility Model	No
Ukraine	1993	8 Years	Utility Model	No	8171
Uruguay	1976	10 Years	Utility Model	No
Vietnam	1995	10 Years	Utility Solution	yes

Other countries providing for utility model protection include: Armenia, Belize, Ecuador, Estonia, El Salvador, Honduras, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Macao, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Venezuela. Typically protection is for the same types of invention as are patent-eligible (although in Honduras, Kenya and Macao at least protection is confined to tangible things) and does not require that there be any inventive step involved.

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