Design patents protect the ornamental design of an item. For companies that depend on industrial design to distinguish themselves from their competitors, design patents can be an integral part of their business strategy. Both Apple, Inc. and Crocs Inc. lead the field in implementing design patents into their business model and zealously attacking their competitors to protect their rights under those patents. For example, Apple, Inc. obtained a design patent for the rounded rectangular design of its iPhone and iPad devices, which it has since used, in part, as a basis to sue Samsung. Now, design patents may be an even more powerful tool. Under the Patent Law Treatise Implementation Act of 2012, signed into law by President Obama in December, U.S. companies may now have a new way to protect themselves from knock-offs. The underlying objective of the new law is to harmonize America’s design patent laws with the rest of the world. The new law allows inventors to use a single design patent application filed anywhere in the world to seek design patent rights in multiple countries simultaneously.

The new law, set to go into effect next year, also increases the term and scope of design patent applications. The patent term for issued design patents will be extended from 14 years to 15 years and applicants can now seek up to 100 different design inventions within a single international design application. Furthermore, provisional rights are created as of the publication date of the international application.

Critics of the new law worry that the new law will just add to the already overburdened U.S. Patent Office. Specifically, as the new law requires the U.S. Patent Office to reject design patent applications from foreign countries within a certain amount of time or else the applicant is entitled to design patent protection in the U.S., critics doubt whether the Patent Office could handle a flood of new applications in addition to its current backlog.

Source: http://gigaom.com/2012/12/27/here-come-the-design-patents-new-law-boosts-rights-in-shapes-designs/

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Klemchuk LLP is an Intellectual Property (IP), Technology, Internet, and Business law firm located in Dallas, TX.  The firm offers comprehensive legal services including litigation and enforcement of all forms of IP as well as registration and licensing of patents, trademarks, trade dress, and copyrights.  The firm also provides a wide range of technology, Internet, e-commerce, and business services including business planning, formation, and financing, mergers and acquisitions, business litigation, data privacy, and domain name dispute resolution.  Additional information about the IP law firm and its IP law attorneys may be found at www.klemchuk.com.

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