The owner of an patent application or of an patent under opposition might consider conversion/derivation in particular in the following situations:
1. The inventive step of the claims of the application or patent seems debatable. Utility model protection might be an option because several contracting states require a lower degree of inventiveness for utility models;
2. The main prior art invoked against the application/patent is a non-written disclosure. In some contracting states, this non-written disclosure might not be prior art for a utility model;
3. The main prior art was published shortly before the effective date of the application/patent by the applicant/inventor. Indeed, some contracting states have a grace period for utility models;
4. The owner of a pending application wants to quickly obtain an enforceable right.
