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Rocket Docket: Fast Track to Examination

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

R.I.P. Mr. Rosen: Federal Circuit Upends Longstanding Design Patent Obviousness Test

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

Protecting the Product: Beauty Products

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

New USPTO Design Patent “Bar” to be Created in 2024

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

The Blue Turf of Boise State: On “Service” Dress and the Creation of Source Identification

As we’ve written about in prior posts, it’s possible under U.S. trademark law for distinctive visual element(s) to become a trademark, i.e., an identifier of source for a particular party’s goods or services....more

Design Patents are Heating Up at the Federal Circuit, Again

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

AI & IP: A Not-so-Perfect Pairing

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

Safety Helmet Product Configuration Trademark Registrations Demolished by Lack of Evidence of Acquired Distinctiveness

The USPTO’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“Board”) recently ordered the cancellation of two trademark registrations for product configurations of safety helmets, shown below and both directed to “… a three dimensional...more

SAVE THE DATE – 16th Annual USPTO Design Day Announced for May 4, 2023

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

Failure to Mark Patent Number on Products Results in Complete Loss of Pre-Suit Infringement Damages

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

Protecting the Product™: Typefaces and Fonts

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

A Trademark Guide to the Metaverse for Averse Brand Owners

Introduction - Recent technological developments have made topics like the metaverse, Web3, blockchain, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) commonplace. But nothing about these topics is common....more

Recent Trends in Article of Manufacture of Design Patent Claims: GUIs Remain King

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

In re SurgiSil : Much More than a Cosmetic Change to Design Patent Law

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

Design Protection: Don’t Sleep on Copyrights

In a recent decision, the Review Board of the United States Copyright Office (“Board”) reversed an examiner’s prior refusal to register a copyright in the artistic elements present in the bed shown above, paving the way for...more

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