A design patent is based on the way a manufactured product looks, its ornamental and aesthetic features but in no way can it be functional. The design patent has only one claim and refers to drawing to signify what is protected.
Some of the examples for easily understanding the design patents are computer icons (such as emojis), the original curvy Coca-Cola bottle (1915) and the Statue of Liberty (1879).
The design patent is not renewable after serving its validity of 14 years, although an application filed after May 13, 2015, may have a 15-year validity term from the date of grant.
Around the year 1830 the patent law in the United States focused on how things worked rather than how it looked. Manufacturers like Jordan L. Mott, owner of a New York ironworks influenced the government to bring a law against design piracy which resulted in the Patent Act of 1842.
The way we see design patents today is way different than the first design patent which was granted in the United States of America to George Bruce on November 9, 1842, for a new typeface.
Interesting because the patent had no drawings at all rather than a description about the design which George Bruce claimed, which is odd when we compare the requirement of a design patent today which should have six angles, or drawings, of the front, back, top, bottom, left and right unless the angles are identical as in a sphere-shaped design.
In the year 1902 the criteria changed to define allowable subject matter to new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture.
The image below shows different lines used in a design patent.
Dashed Lines in a design patent includes trace made up of dots or dashes or a combination of both and signifies that no protection is sought for these features. As seen in the image below the broken lines indicate that the 3-dimensional structure of the product is not being claimed.
The dashed lines in a design patent also widen the scope for protection for the inventor as they can argue on the infringement based on solid and dashed lines even if the certain parts look completely different.
The two tech giants Apple and Samsung battled in court in April 2011 when Apple blamed Samsung for copying their design. In August of 2011 months later Apple sued Samsung for three utility patents, and four design patents. A year later Apple won the case with over
There are two figures on the left and right. As seen in the images the solid lines in the drawings are the claimed features of the design whereas dashed lines show what the rest of the object looks like. Although, in case of infringement only solid lines are compared.
In the patent USD’756 (Left) the bezel and back (shown in blue circle) are shown in solid lines suggesting it to be part of the claimed feature. Some of the features such as front button (shown in red circle) is shown in dashed lines which is not claimed. However, the Patent USD’087 (Right) does not have Back (showed in Dashed Lines) as a claimed part of the patent.
Patent having alternative embodiments are beneficial as they cover different elements to be claimed and the designer can provide combinations of solid and broken lines for the same object in the patent. Analyzing this case, it could be said that a smaller number of solid lines or a higher number of dashed lines means stronger patent.
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