Chapter XII

REGISTRATION OF UTILITY MODELS

Sec. 108. Applicability of Provisions Relating to Patents

       108.1. Subject to Section 109, the provisions governing patents shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to the registration of utility models. 

       108.2. Where the right to a patent conflicts with the right to a utility model registration in the case referred to in Section 29, the said provision shall apply as if the word "patent" were replaced by the words "patent or utility model registration." (Sec. 55, R.A. No. 165a) 

Sec. 109. Special Provisions Relating to Utility Models

       109.1  (a) An invention qualifies for registration as a utility model if it is new and industrially applicable.

                (b) Section 21, "Patentable Inventions", shall apply except the reference to inventive step as a condition of protection.

       109.2. Sections 43 to 49 shall not apply in the case of applications for registration of a utility model. 

       109.3. A utility model registration shall expire, without any possibility of renewal, at the end of the seventh year after the date of the filing of the application. 

       109.4. In proceedings under Sections 61 to 64, the utility model registration shall be canceled on the following grounds:

            (a) That the claimed invention does not qualify for registration as a utility model and does not meet the requirements of registrability, in particular having regard to Subsection 109.1 and Sections 22, 23, 24 and 27;

            (b) That the description and the claims do not comply with the prescribed requirements; 

            (c) That any drawing which is necessary for the understanding of the invention has not been furnished; 

            (d) That the owner of the utility model registration is not the inventor or his successor in title. (Secs. 55, 56, and 57, R.A. No. 165a) 

SEC. 110. Conversion of Patent Applications or Applications for Utility Model Registration

       110.1. At any time before the grant or refusal of a patent, an applicant for a patent may, upon payment of the prescribed fee, convert his application into an application for registration of a utility model, which shall be accorded the filing date of the initial application. An application may be converted only once. 

       110.2. At any time before the grant or refusal of a utility model registration, an applicant for a utility model registration may, upon payment of the prescribed fee, convert his application into a patent application, which shall be accorded the filing date of the initial application. (Sec. 58, R.A. No. 165a) 

SEC. 111. Prohibition against Filing of Parallel Applications 

       An applicant may not file two (2) applications for the same subject, one for utility model registration and the other for the grant of a patent whether simultaneously or consecutively. (Sec. 59, R.A. No. 165a)