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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Clarifying that the UK courts have ruled that Samsung did not in fact copy the look and feel, breach the design patent on the iPad.
This is the design patent that they tried to use against Samsung in California: and the one on which the jury said that Samsung was not guilty.
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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.
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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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.
To safely operate in the mobile industry, a company needs to have substantial portfolios in the three main patent areas involved in the design of smartphones: operating system and software, hardware and wireless patents.
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"Design patents used to be in the backwaters of the patent system, " said Christopher Carani, a design-law expert and lawyer in Chicago.
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Partly as a result, The number of design-patent applications awarded has increased significantly in recent years.
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The most iconic being design patent D618, 678 (that which you see above).
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The team fed the algorithm as much data as they could from the Cisco patent and told the software to design around it.
The trial is significant because it tests the ability of U.S. patent and design laws to keep pace with the fast-changing technology industry and to ultimately benefit consumers.
Samsung is alleging that the iPhone 5 breaches patent protection, not the look and feel of design.
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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.
The disputed patents include three covering design - including the exterior look of the device - and a 'list scrolling patent' which relates to how users view documents.
The PTO generally has become more efficient at reviewing design-patent applications, often taking just months from application to grant.
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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.
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.
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.
The Sound BlasterAxx utilises a unique patent-pending "stacked stereo" speaker design that incorporates two-speaker drivers angled to provide stereo separation.
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However, in a case tried in Germany regarding the same patent, the court found that Samsung engaged in unfair competition by copying the iPad design.
The ruling states that Samsung has violated four Apple patents related to iPhone design and touch screen technology, including a patent co-invented by Steve Jobs.
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