Ube has filed for a patent for this unique design.

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In particular, a designer may first seek and secure a design patent and then secondary meaning for trade dress protection of the design can be developed during the 14 years of design patent protection.

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At the same time, Samsung has also asked the court to delete an injunction on its Galaxy Tab 10.1, after the jury in the recent court case found it did not infringe Apple's design patent for the iPad tablet.

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With a patent for the Eco-Pak design granted in May this year, Green and Coates are ready to take their project to the next level.

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At no point prior to its deployment of its altered technology did EchoStar ask the District Court, which had continuing jurisdiction over the case, to review the new design for patent infringement.

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It almost shouldn't be a surprise, then, that the company is applying for a patent on a tablet design with a stealthy keyboard built-in.

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He has applied for a patent and is now hoping his design will attract offers from businesses keen to produce it.

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More broadly, the fact that any company can demand protection for the basic shape of a device, years before it had invented the actual device or technology, should not entitle that company to claim that it had patented the design for a smartphone any more than Richard Branson can patent business class travel in outer space.

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Talked out of putting his design on the Web for all to download, Gadgil got a patent, which attracted a company called WaterHealth , founded in 1995 by Elwyn Ewald , a former humanitarian relief worker building a socially conscious company.

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For clothes and accessories with longer shelf lives like handbags, sunglasses and lingerie, though, the design patent is a useful tool.

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