Design Patent Quick Facts

Design Patents:

• Are useful to protect the design of nearly every type of product from smartphones to the retail stores that sell them; from pharmaceuticals to medical devices; and from running shoes to construction equipment
• Can be used to protect an entire product or just part of it
• Protection in the U.S. runs 15 years from the grant date
• Issued U.S. design patents more than doubled from 2014 to 2024; in the U.S., issued design patents jumped 33% 2023 to 2024
• Are complimentary to utility patents; utility patents protect the way a product works, design patents protect the way a product looks
• Can be filed as a continuation of a pending utility patent application
• Unlike utility patents, can only contain one claim
• Are typically less costly, and easier and quicker to obtain than utility patents; in some jurisdictions design rights can be obtained in a matter of days
• Must be filed abroad within 6 months of the U.S. filing date to claim Paris Convention priority
• Can be efficiently filed around the world using WIPO’s Hague international design system
• Have a unique remedy for infringement in the U.S.: disgorgement of the infringer’s total profit; one of the largest U.S. patent infringement awards was based almost exclusively on design patents
• Can be simpler and easier to prove infringement, often causing infringers to stop selling an infringing product with just receipt of a demand letter
• Are accepted by some online sales platforms for takedown of infringing products
• Outperform utility patents in obtaining injunctions, both in district court and at the ITC, including general exclusion orders (more than 50% of investigations between 2015 and 2024 involving a design patent granted a GEO)
• Are less often the basis for a successful institution in an IPR or PGR at the USPTO than utility patents; <40% institution rate (2013 – 2025)
• Are complimentary to trademark/trade dress rights, but are not subject to limitations like use in commerce or source identification
• Are complimentary to copyright, but are not subject to limitations like creativity, fair use, or independent creation