Expanding the utility model to ALL technology undermines the public domain and prevents innovation

(Dr. Uma Suthersanen, Chair in International Intellectual Property Law, Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary, University of London, United Kingdom“Utility models: Do they really serve national innovation strategies?,” pg online @ https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3139963 //pa-ef)

Nevertheless, is this a sufficient basis for the introduction of yet another intellectual property right, notably as the right in question appears to undermine essential principles of the current patent law? All intellectual property rights are predicated on the notion that inventions and creative works are in the public domain unless such works fulfil various thresholds such as novelty or inventive step (in the case of patents), originality or distinctiveness (in the cases of copyright or trade mark). Partly in deference to the high societal costs imposed by the conferral of a proprietary right, which will stifle competition for a short duration, and partly to forestall duplication of patent protection for identical or similar inventions, the examination system is a major element of the patent regime. The justifications of the traditional patent law are reconfirmed during the examination process. Providing second-tier rights for inventions that fail to meet such standards undermines both the public-private boundary and the doctrinal bases of intellectual property rights. The worrying concern is that utility model laws can result in barring the entry of both new and competing substitutive products, 26 especially so in capitalist market-based economies where it is generally accepted that all market actors, including competitors, follow-on creators and consumers, should be allowed to freely use such public domain works which fall short of the required standards. Developing countries, in particular, should be cautious in broadening protection to cover all types of innovations – irrespective of whether they are minor and low-cost innovations, or whether they involve complex and cutting edge technologies such as biological and pharmaceutical products.27