Posts Tagged: "design registration"

Strong Design Patents: The Power of Color

Ironically, color design patents are still published in black and white. The front page of a design patent will inform you, however, that the USPTO has a color image on file. By downloading the originally filed images on the USPTO’s Public PAIR data base, you can see what the color design patent actually covers. The originally filed color images can then be downloaded from the “supplemental content” tab of the PAIR record for each patent. The use of color design patents is growing fast, particularly for computer generated images. Similarities in color schemes can outweigh differences in shapes if an accused image is more similar in color pallet to a patented design than it is to other available designs. It’s a little more effort to file color images, but the increased strength of coverage can be well worth it.

Mark Nowotarski

August 6, 2013

Strong Design Patents: The Power of The Broken Line

Design patents can cover one or more of the shape, color, ornamentation or texture of an object. Design patents claiming a shape typically have line drawings showing various views of the shape. Solid lines in the drawings are the claimed features of the shape. Broken lines in the drawings show what the rest of the object might look like. To determine infringement, it’s only necessary to compare the solid lines. The broken lines don’t count. Ironically, this means that the fewer solid lines in a design patent, or conversely, the more broken lines in a design patent, the stronger the patent.

Mark Nowotarski

July 30, 2013

WIPO Assemblies Agree to Roadmaps for New IP Agreements

The WIPO Assemblies, which met from October 1-9, 2012, took stock of the Organization’s substantive work over the last year, and provided direction for the future work program. At the closing of the Assemblies, WIPO Director General Francis Gurry welcomed the “extremely constructive engagement of member states” in the work of the Organization as demonstrated in the decisions taken by the Assemblies. He underlined the progress made by member states in setting timetables for concluding negotiations on international instruments on access to copyrighted work by the visually impaired, design law and intellectual property and genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore.

Gene Quinn

October 9, 2012