One design patent, different sizes? Question from a true beginner in this area...

[SustainableIdeas]

Does one patent cover the item if it is to be built in a range of
sizes?

What if each item has different ornamentation? IE a bookcase with a
flower cut in the side or a round hole, or a half moon, etc.

Thanks in advance.

[Emma Anne]

I am just winging it below, so take it as such.

SustainableIdeas <sustaina...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Does one patent cover the item if it is to be built in a range of
> sizes?

I would say yes. The design patent covers the visual aspect of the
item, and different sizes don't make that much difference to how it
looks. But I could see that there are limits to this. If it was
house-sized instead of breadbox sized for example.

>
> What if each item has different ornamentation? IE a bookcase with a
> flower cut in the side or a round hole, or a half moon, etc.

That starts to get dicey. Because how the item looks is very definitely
affected by ornamentation.

(not legal advice)

[David Kiewit]

> Does one patent cover the item if it is to be built in a range of
> sizes?
>

In the US, changes in size and color don't get one outside the scope of a
design patent.

> What if each item has different ornamentation? IE a bookcase with a
> flower cut in the side or a round hole, or a half moon, etc.
>

This gets at the guts of things. The essence of a design patent is that it
protects ornamental features of a useful object, and nothing else.

Your example permits of a range of answers -- from YES to NO.

If the ornamental feature on your bookcase is the shape of the hole, the
patent protects only bookcases with that sort of hole in that sort of
location on the bookcase.

On the other hand, if the appearance of the bookcase itself is what matters
but there's some functional reason for having some sort of hole in it
(e.g. -- the user has to stick his hand through the hole to unlatch the
front of the bookcase), then one would draw the bookcase with the hole shown
with dashed lines to indicate that the hole was NOT an ornamental feature.

--
David Kiewit, Reg. Patent Agent
www.patent-faq.com
(1) 727 866 0669
5901 Third Street South
St. Petersburg FL US 33705