design patent
Ornamental invention right
A design patent protects the ornamental appearance of a manufactured item—its shape, surface pattern, or visual characteristics—rather than how it functions.
Unlike utility patents, which cover inventions and processes, design patents guard against copying a product's distinctive look: Apple won a design patent lawsuit over the iPhone's rounded corners.
Protection typically lasts fifteen years.
- injunctionsOfficial orders to act
- cease and desistLegal order to stop
- inventionNew device or method
- litigationLegal dispute process
- intellectual propertyLegal rights over inventions
filing · original · protection · ornamental · look and feel · registration · claims · prototype · exclusive · innovation · licensing · blueprint · aesthetic · proprietary · novelty · dispute resolution · configuration · shape
- intellectual propertypatents, copyright, trademark, trademarks, copyrights
- intangible assetsintangible assets, copyright, trade secret, brand, trademark
- design IP
- IP lawcopyright, trademark, patents, trademarks, trademark law
- patentspatents, USPTO, EPO, PCT, pharmaceutical patents
- inventionsprinting press, steam engine, lightbulb, light bulb, microscope