Maurer School of Law: Indiana University Digital Repository @ Maurer Law Articles by Maurer Faculty Faculty Scholarship 1999 Second Tier Patent Protection Mark D. Janis Indiana University Maurer School of Law,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/facpub Part of the Intellectual Property Law Commons Recommended Citation Janis, Mark D., "Second Tier Patent Protection" (1999). Articles by Maurer Faculty. Paper 543. http://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/facpub/543 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Digital Repository @ Maurer Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Articles by Maurer Faculty by an authorized administrator of Digital Repository @ Maurer Law. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. VOLUME 40, NUMBER 1, WINTER 1999 Second Tier Patent Protection Mark D. Janis* The problem of access to the patent system, particularly for small en- terprises, 1 currently dominates the patent policy debate internation- ally. Although the access problem can be conceptualized in a variety of ways, 2 it is often defined narrowly in terms of the prohibitive costs of 3 acquiring and enforcing patent rights. A number of the responsive strategies currently being implemented entail direct reform of the regular patent system through fee reduc- tions4 or substantive reforms. However, an important trend emerging in many regions of the world focuses on an additional strategy in which access to the patent system is to be enhanced by the expansion (or, in some cases, the creation) of an entirely separate regime of rights, known variously as the "utility model," the "petty patent," or, generi- * Associate Professor of Law, University of Iowa College of.Law.