Design Protection Tools
Introduction
This article explains the basic legal tools currently available in the U.S. for protecting a design. For each tool of design protection, the following seven most frequently asked questions will be answered:
- What is it?
- What does it protect?
- How do you get it?
- How long does it last?
- What are the advantages?
- What are the disadvantages?
- How much does it cost?
In answering the last question regarding the cost of each design protection tool, we have used as a reference the 2003 Report of the Economic Survey prepared by the Law Practice Management Committee of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA). This Survey was sent to the all members of the AIPLA (1,600 members responded) requesting data regarding the attorney fees charged for various matters as of 2002. In this article, we used the median attorney fee figures for the entire U.S. Obviously, attorney fees vary greatly depending on many diverse factors. The numbers in this article are provided only as a starting point to indicate the relative costs of various design protection activities.
An Overview
When a designer speaks about protecting her design, she is usually interested in protecting its function and/or its appearance (form). The first tool of design protection, a contract, is unique in that it is the only tool that can normally be used to protect both function and appearance of a design. However, it is useful in only limited situations, to be discussed below. Outside of a contract, the only way to protect functional attributes of a design is with a utility patent. Designers who wish to protect the appearance (form) of their design are, however, blessed with three options: they can choose among copyright, trademark/trade dress, or design patent.
These, then, are the five basic tools currently available in the U.S. for designers to protect their designs (with links to jump to the pages in this article where each is discussed):
In addition to discussing each tool, this article includes a discussion of the following topics:
- What is the basic difference between a design patent and a utility patent?
- What You Need to Remember: Time Deadlines
