Does Your Product Not Meet The Requirements For Patentability? Not Everything Is Lost.

Nowadays, many companies and inventors face the problem of leaving their inventions and developments unprotected because of increasingly strong patentability examination procedures around the world.

However, not everything is lost. In Mexico and many other countries, there is a legal protection alternative to patents for those products that do not comply with all the requirements for patentability, especially those which do not comply with the requirement of inventive step. This alternative is generally known as "utility model", although in some countries it is also known as "petty patent" or "small patent"¹. In fact, this option is eligible for entering national phase under the PCT where available.