LKQ Corporation and Keystone Automotive Industries, Inc. (collectively, LKQ) filed an inter partes review (IPR) of GM’s design patent for a car part, asserting that it was unpatentable as obvious. The ...

A design patent protects a new, original, ornamental design for an article of manufacture. 35 USC section 171. “Ornamental” means that the design is purely decorative; the patentability is based on ...

“While patenting a website’s computer implemented methods presents tricky Section 101 issues, the GUI’s of those sites are surprisingly easy to patent via design patents.” A common question I get is ...

Design patent counsel are concerned that an upcoming case at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit could result in uncertainty over when design patents are obvious. The Federal Circuit granted ...

Christopher Santone used the US Patent and Trademark Office’s launch of a practice bar specific to design patents to make a ...

Counsel say a Federal Circuit ruling on the obviousness test for design patents may increase the time IP owners spend defending their rights A ruling by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ...

July 31, 2023 - Design patents and utility patents have co-existed in harmony — each staying in its own lane, covering its own subject matter — for over 180 years. The U.S. Patent Act was enacted in ...