The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has announced the rollout of DesignVision, an advanced AI‑powered image search tool now integrated into the examination system for U.S. design patent applications. According to the...more
7/18/2025
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Design Patent ,
Industrial Design ,
Innovative Technology ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Inventors ,
Machine Learning ,
Patent Applications ,
Patent Examinations ,
Patents ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
The Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (“MPEP”) is the examination manual used internally at the United States Patent & Trademark Office (“USPTO”) to guide examiners in the process of examining patent applications. In...more
While obtaining a design patent is often quicker than obtaining a utility patent, current design patent application pendency is often still a lengthy period of time. Based on data released by the USPTO in July 2024 and shown...more
Upending decades of continuity in the world of design patents, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”), sitting en banc in LKQ Corporation v. GM Global Technology Operations LLC, overturned the...more
The beauty industry is ever changing, and makeup trends and viral product releases can drastically increase a company’s profits. However, without proper legal protection, competitors can quickly replicate a product, eating...more
4/18/2024
/ Cosmetics ,
Design Patent ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Manufacturers ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Personal Care Products ,
Product Packaging ,
Retail Market ,
Trade Dress ,
Trademark Application ,
Trademarks
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) is amending the rules of practice in patent cases by creating a separate space for individuals with educational backgrounds in design-related disciplines to qualify to...more
Last week, in a precedential decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”) clarified the law on comparison prior art in design patent cases. In the decision, captioned Columbia Sportswear...more
9/26/2023
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Design Patent ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Logos ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Prior Art ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
The recent proliferation of useful Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) tools for tasks like text, image, music, and software code generation is all the rage. In the intellectual property sphere, one of the hottest topics...more
8/4/2023
/ Algorithms ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Industrial Design ,
Innovative Technology ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Machine Learning ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patents ,
Trademarks
Save the Date to Attend the 16th Annual USPTO Design Day The 2023 iteration of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)’s annual Design Day will be held on May 4, 2023, with options to attend either in-person at...more
As highlighted by a recent decision of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, a party’s failure to properly mark its products with its issued U.S. patent number(s) will very likely result in a...more
While copyright law is at the center of a few recent disputes over intellectual property protection for typefaces and fonts, design patents are an often-overlooked mechanism for protecting these designs. Those who develop or...more
This article supplements our previous post with updated 2021 data.
U.S. design patents continue to grow in popularity. Although 2021 saw a slight downtick in the number of issued design patents compared to the previous...more
A recent decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has fundamentally altered the law on prior art anticipation for design patent applications. In this decision, captioned In re: SurgiSil, L.L.P....more