Utility Model: Widening the economic divide between 'legacy' and 'new' EU members states

The proposed implementation of a harmonised second-tier patent regime has raised significant debate since the Commission's proposal for a Directive providing for protection of inventions by utility model (the 'Proposed Directive'). Traditionally, the utility model has been justified by the notion that a less onerous intellectual property right would offer smaller business enterprises a greater opportunity to enter the market for technology-based goods and services, thus boosting the European Union's position on a global scale. With the admission of ten new members into the Union in May 2004, the Commission must revisit its early discussions on intellectual property protection, especially as this relates to encouraging economic development in the Union as a whole.