An intellectual property right generally considered a “small patent,” granted for an invention and which gives its holder a monopoly on the exploitation of that invention within a given territory.
The duration of this monopoly is usually shorter than that of a patent as it is, for example 10 years in France compared to 20 years for a patent if annuities are regularly paid. This monopoly is granted in exchange for the disclosure of the invention. The given territory typically corresponds to a country, with the French utility certificate covering the French territory. It should be noted that depending on the country, utility certificates may be referred to as “utility certificates” as is the case in France, or “utility models” as in the United States and the United Kingdom.
To obtain such a utility certificate (or utility model) and the associated monopoly, the applicant, whether a legal or natural person submits a utility certificate application to the relevant office. This utility certificate application generally undergoes only a formal examination and is not substantively examined with no search report being issued.
However, even if no substantive examination is conducted, the patentability criteria which include the requirement to involve an invention, novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability apply in the same way as for a patent. Therefore, in the event of a dispute, some countries such as France require the issuance of a search report to verify that these criteria are indeed met.