What is a design patent?
There is more than one patent, but only "design patent" can protect the appearance of goods. To obtain a design patent, a commodity must meet the following three conditions:
First of all, the main purpose of design is decoration, that is, design must be concrete and visible, and cannot rely on the function of goods. Even if there is no design, the function of the commodity must be able to operate normally. In addition, the design patent does not include the article where it is located (such as the T-shirt or the handbag itself). Therefore, in order to protect multiple projects of the same design, it is necessary to apply for multiple design patents.
The other two conditions for designing a patent are unknown advantages and novelty. The former focuses on the originality of the design concept, while the latter depends on whether someone makes it public before the design.
Boutique and retail
Gucci is the fastest growing fashion boutique brand, and its main income comes from leather goods (including handbags), while watches and jewelry account for the least. Surprisingly, the design patents related to Gucci watches have greatly exceeded handbags.
According to the retrieval data, Gucci's patents are mostly in the United States, among which all kinds of watches have the most designs, but the patent emphasis in Europe is completely different. The handbag design is the most, of which 9 are handbag closure devices, and there are 5 real handbag design patents, one of which is as follows:
Image source: Espacenet
Although Gucci is a global brand, the quantity and variety of its products are still far less than those of retailers such as Forever2 1 (headquartered in Los Angeles, California, entered Taiwan Province in 20 15, and the first store was selected in ATT4FUN). These retailers supply a lot of clothes at a much lower price than Gucci, so they are called "fast fashion".
Since they have introduced more clothes, they should have more design patents, but this is not the case. Forever2 1 owns 1 1 patents, seven of which are about store furnishings (we also found that this is one of the main patent types of many chain channels), which has nothing to do with the goods they sell, but should be related to the fact that they currently have 28 1 stores in the United States and need to maintain a good reputation of the stores.
Forever2 1 Store displays patent illustrations
Image source: Espacenet
In fact, the lack of design patents for Forever2 1 products is not a bad thing, because not all clothes are original and unique enough to apply for design patents, which will not make one brand better than another. Forever2 1 lacks design patents because they use the original designs of other companies and have been repeatedly criticized.
Patent Practice: Competition and Litigation
A successful brand must have two characteristics: "competitiveness" and "uniqueness". If there is another patent blessing, the effect will be stronger, because the patent can protect the appearance of clothing, shoes, handbags and furniture, and ensure that the brand's products are unique, thus distinguishing them from other brands in the industry. Moreover, the uniqueness of the brand is protected by patents, and others cannot legally copy it, so the brand competitiveness can directly benefit.
Design litigation is very common in the fashion industry, especially among "fast fashion" retailers. For example, Forever2 1 is accused by ICC(cosmetricconceptsllc) of infringing the design of a cosmetic case, as shown in the following figure. In the end, this lawsuit, like all infringement lawsuits of Forever2 1, was settled by both parties, and now the lawsuit is dropped. However, this kind of design litigation is not common in the fashion world, and there are many designs and art presentations involving trademarks and copyrights.
Image source: Espacenet
UGG v Claire'sStore, a footwear company, can prove the advantages of patents over other protection options. In this patent infringement lawsuit, UGG only showed the design ownership of the disputed shoes and fully demonstrated its defense strength in court.
Other forms of intellectual property rights have the problem of insufficient protection, which can be seen from the jeans company LeviStrauss suing the boutique brand YSL for the famous Levi tag. Although Levi has registered trademarks, which helps to prove their uniqueness, Levi still has the responsibility to prove that YSL's trademarks are similar enough to cause confusion between products because trademarks are easier to obtain than design patents.
conclusion
Designers do not always think deeply about the importance of design patents, but they are more and more aware of the benefits of patents, which can be seen from the increasing trend of the number of applications for design patents.
Design patents can be used to enforce the unique appearance of products according to law, thus enhancing competitiveness and ultimately helping enterprises to establish and establish brands. Although there are many ways to protect brands, design patents should not be ignored.
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