ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE OF THE UTILITY MODEL PROTECTION AND THE LEGAL CHALLENGES IN ETHIOPIA

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.