If the Fashion Bill is enacted into law, designers would be well-advised to continue pursuing the foregoing copyright and trademark registrations, but would have to reconsider pursuing design patents based on cost considerations and whether the useful life of each relevant design is expected to last more than the three years of copyright protection provided by the Fashion Bill.

FORBES: Protecting Fashion Designs

Expect styling to come to the fore, as vehicle design is less influenced by safety considerations like visibility, window placement, strength and stiffness of materials, bumpers, crumple zones, collapsible steering columns, air bags, seat belts, and padding.

FORBES: Google's Trillion-Dollar Driverless Car -- Part 2: The Ripple Effects

"Panasonic engineers bring us in to make evaluations and listen to what we have to say, so that when they are doing the design work they take our considerations into effect, " said Steven Poster ASC, cinematographer.

ENGADGET: Panasonic PT-AE8000U projector touts brighter, smoother 3D for king-of-the-hill home theaters