[co-author: Patrick T. Murray, Business Development Coordinator]

The statistics below reveal the current trends on proceeding breakdowns, institution rates, and outcomes of design patent PTO litigation. Two new design petitions have been filed since May – the first since April 2017. Two final written decisions have issued since the last update in April 2018, neither resulting in the cancellation of a claim. Only three proceedings involving design patents are currently pending.

I. Proceeding Breakdown

II. Institution Rates/Case Studies

The institution rate for design patents, for both claims and proceedings, is 41% (17/41).
 
For cases overall, the proceeding institution rate is 68%, and the claim institution rate is 61%.
 
Here is a breakdown of the current case statuses for all of the design cases:

III. Final Written Decision (FWD) Outcomes
        
                  A. Claim Cancellation Rate

The instituted claim has been cancelled in 10 of 16 design FWDs (63%).  The overall claim cancellation rate is 77%.

                    C. FWD Prior Art Type