Abstract:
Uniform and strong patent protection system fails to be equally suitable to all countries in
the world. Due to the mismatch of this system to their inventive capablity, many LDCs, are
resorting to the second-tier patent protection system i.e. UM which is assumed to be
suitable for minor innovation that is dominant in such countries’ jurisprudence. UM
protection is praised for its capacity of offering inexpensive and quicker alternative
protection for minor inventionscompered to the conventional patent protection. Taking
those facts into account, Ethiopia has incorporated UM protection in to its patent system
under Pro.No. 123/1995. However,the country did not set an apt UM protection as it is
lenient and inadequate on the one hand and obscure and unclear on the other it has
deterred it from reaping the potential benefits that is associated with such
protection.Based on this,facts, the study examines the potential legal challenges and fartile
prospects of UM protection in Ethiopian. To this effect, it has made use of interview, legal
instruments, and policy document analysis. Besides experiances of some countries are also
inspected to obtain thelessons out of it. The study founds that theobscurity and
insufifitcencyof existing UM laws and its weak implementation has restrained Ethiopia
from achieving the aims of the law, which are to encourage local inventive activities build
national technological capability and transfer and adaptation of foreign technologies.
Thus Ethiopia should, therefore, reconsider its’ UM laws to redesign it in a way that can
contribute to development efforts, and accumulation of knowledge by domestic enterprises.
