Tag Archives: Design Patents

Did You Feel It? The Earth Just Shifted Under Every Designer and Design Patent Owner. In March and April, we reminded you that there are two types of patents – utility and design.  Utility patents address how the better mousetrap catches mice.  Design patents address the ornamental appearance of the mousetrap.  Our topic this month is again design patents. […]

Last month, we discussed issues in obtaining a design patent. This month, we look at issues in enforcing the design patent. Remember that utility patents and design patents are separate and distinct and protect different things. A design patent addresses the appearance of something; for example, the appearance of a mousetrap that looks like a piece […]

A ‘utility’ patent is different from a ‘design’ patent.  A ‘utility’ patent is directed to how something works – for example, how a mousetrap catches mice.  A ‘design’ patent addresses the decorative appearance of something – for example, a mousetrap that looks like a piece of cheese. Utility and design patents differ in their scope, […]

Utility patents protect what things do.  Design patents protect how things look.  Design patents have existed for well over 100 years:  “[w]homever invents any new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture may obtain a patent therefor … .”  So the design patent only applies to an ‘article of manufacture;’ that is, a physical product, and only […]

When most inventors think of a patent, they think of a better-mousetrap type patent, known as a utility patent.  A utility patent protects what an invention is and how it works.  U.S. Patent 269,766 for a mousetrap that plugs a mouse with  a bullet from  a  .44 is an example of a utility patent.  Our […]