What is a Design Patent?
There are three types of patents: design, utility, and plant. A design patent protects the ornamental design from infringement by others. Statutory language defining what is patentable as a design patent and a utility patent is below: Design patents protect new, original, and ornamental designs for an article of manufacture. Whoever invents any new, original and ornamental design for an article of manufacture may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.35 U.S.C. s162 Utility patents basically protect useful, novel, and non-obvious products or processes. Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title. 35 U.S.C. s101 Plant patent statutory language can be found at 35 U.S.C. s161. Requirements of a design patent.
Patents which cover the ornamental appearance of articles, that is, the aesthetic features of utilitarian articles. Design patents can not used to protect a concept or a method of production These rights are solely protectable by utility patents. The design that is sought to be protect must be visible to the user of the product. Design patents can not be used to protect features which are functional in nature.To qualify for protection the design must be: • New. • Unobvious to a designer with ordinary skill in the art. • Original. • An ornamental design for an article of manufacture. • Not have been patented or described in a printed publication in any country, or in public use or on sale in this country more than one year prior to the filing date of the patent application.
Definition of a Design A design consists of the visual ornamental characteristics embodied in, or applied to, an article of manufacture. Since a design is manifested in appearance, the subject matter of a design patent application may relate to the configuration or shape of an article, to the surface ornamentation applied to an article, or to the combination of configuration and surface ornamentation. A design for surface ornamentation is inseparable from the article to which it is applied and cannot exist alone. It must be a definite pattern of surface ornamentation, applied to an article of manufacture. Types of Designs and Modified Forms An ornamental design may be embodied in an entire article or only a portion of an article, or may be ornamentation applied to an article. If a design is directed to just surface ornamentation, it must be shown applied to an article in the drawings, and the article must be shown in broken lines, as it forms no part of the claimed design. A design pat
U.S. patent laws provide for the granting of a design patent to anyone who invents any new and nonobvious ornamental design for a manufactured good. A design patent protects only the appearance of an article, not its structural or functional features (which may be entitled to utility patent protection, a separate topic). Sporting goods companies routinely obtain design patents on the appearance of footwear, apparel, golf clubs, lacrosse sticks, baseball bats, and ice skates, to name just a few examples. Compared to utility patents, design patents are inexpensive to prepare and shepherd through the Patent Office. Once granted, a design patent entitles the owner to prevent others from making, using, selling, offering to sell in the Untied States, or importing into the United States, any designs that an ordinary observer would view as substantially the same as the patented design for 14 years from the date of grant.
