on April 15, 2011. Appel made national headline when they accused Samsung of infringement on three of their design patent. Sparking a national debate about infringement and kick starting the patent wars. but what exactly is a design patent and why should we care? In this paper, I hope to inform the reader on what a design patent is, what is the use of a design patent, the requirement of obtaining a design patent, and a look into the ethical issue surrounding patent assertion entities before we can talk about what a design patent is, we first must know what a design is. According to the united states patent and trademark office(U.S. Patent and trademark office. Design patent application guide.2009.web
), A design consists of the visual ornamental characteristics embodied in, or applied to, an article of manufacture. A design could relate to the shape and proportion of an article, the surface of an article or a combination of the two. For instance, a Donald duck telephone would be an example of a design related to shape and proportion, and a picture of a race car used as a watch face is an example of a surface design. A patent is a property right to an inventor. patents grant the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling” an invention in the United States or “importing” the invention into the United States.
To obtain rights to a design patent, an applicate must meet three requirements. The design patent must be a patentable subject, it must be
To obtain a patent, the first requirement is that thing is in terms of “invention”, but not “discover”.
I wouldn’t choose a trademark protection, since it not apply to the invention. A trademark typically includes a symbol, word, or words legally registered or established by use as representing a company or product.
This will ensure that no competitor can simply take her design and manufacture the product. This will also reduce the amount of direct competition due to the fact competitors cannot copy her product and market it to consumers.
A patent is a legal document giving inventors the property right to their own invention. A patent didn’t always mean the rights to an invention though. A patent used to mean a special privilege or favor. It also could be used to acquire more land or obtain rights to explore a new land. Presently the patent is used only for the rights to your invention. Virginia Alexandrea from The United States Patent and Trademark Office wrote the article “General Information Concerning Patents” where she described what Patent rights include.
Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution provides the federal government with the power to issue patents and copyrights in order “to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries” (U.S. Const. art. I, § 8). A patent provides the inventor with an exclusive right to “use, license or sell and invention,” (U.S. Const. art. I, § 8), as such the product, service, process or design becomes the personal property of the inventor(s).
A patent gives the authority to deny people the right to use, make or sell the invention. You can only patent an invention if it is completely new and not an adaption of an invention already present in the market, and if it can be made or used.
First, he thought of the purpose of the design. Was it for a certain company or group, or was it to express something. He had to be creative and include many perspectives in a usually simple design. He also had to make the design interesting to gain it more exposure. He needs to think of what community or demographic will be viewing the design, and fit it to that demographic.
Different forms of intellectual property protection have certain limitations on the time period they are in effect. The duration a patented design lasts is for 10 years. Fees are paid to make sure this protection remains. A registered design prevents third parties from utilizing the product for up to 25 years if it is renewed each five year period. Proof must be given that a person has created a design. These could be copies or photographic evidence of the design. The aspects of a design that are forbidden for use by others are the appearance, shape, arrangement and decoration. There are some criteria the design must meet in order for it to be protected. It must be new, not offensive, not contain already protected designs and is not
The elements of design were created by Arthur Wesley Dow to help people see, describe, and create visual qualities in a systematic way. It consists of 7 elements: line, shape, form, colour, value, texture and space.
The expression of the idea or the work of art created from said idea is eligible for copyright. Users do not need to file for copyright to be protected but is advisable to do so. French copyright law goes on to explain that any works that did not include any human interaction cannot be copyrights, a rock or a flower cannot be copyrighted. Also functional items or items that could be patented, if the criteria for the patent are met, are not copyrightable ("Copyright in France,"
All the time many designers start sketching new styles and as quickly as sketches came off their desks, they are prototyped and tested. At the same time buyers ordered
The U.S. constitution gave Congress the power to “ promote the devellopment of the useful arts” by granting exclusive rights to inventers for a limited period of time. The purpose of a patent was to assurre the rights of the creators in exchange for not keeping these inventions secret, thus overall knowledge base grows.
Who are you designing for? What do they do? Why do they need to product? Research is vital.
The case allows a discussion of several important issues. At a broad level, the case deals with selling a relatively technical breakthrough that could have tremendous social value in a developing
The patent rights can be granted to these types of intellectual property as stated above. The patent right for an invention will last for a period of 15 years. Utility models or industrial design patents last for five years.