A number of recent developments have forced practitioners, even those who never thought that design patents were important, to pay attention to design patents. The Apple v. Samsung litigation, in which a jury verdict of nearly a billion dollars was awarded to Apple, largely on its design patents. The imminent accession of the US to the Hague Agreement, which will permit US filers to use the Hague process as a one-stop-shopping way to file for design protection in many countries at once.
Here are some important upcoming events in this area:
- A Roundtable on the Written Description Requirement for Design Applications, March 5 at the USPTO
- Design Day, April 8 at the USPTO (see details at AIPLA, IPO)
Those practitioners who wish to join in discussions with other practitioners about developments in industrial design protection may wish to subscribe to the Industrial Designs listserv.