What should I pay attention to when applying for a design patent?

1, similar in appearance, joint application. Similar designs, it is best to apply together. A number of similar designs are protected in an authorized patent, which is the same as the protection obtained after these designs apply for authorization. Where similar designs are applied separately, it can be considered that these designs belong to the same design, and only one of them can be submitted, otherwise both patent applications will be rejected. 2, upgrade, distance. Product upgrade does not necessarily need to apply for a design patent again. In the case that there is a small gap between the appearance of the new product and the original patent, it is still within the protection scope of the original patent. Due to lack of innovation, submitting new applications may not be authorized. Even if authorized by luck, the rights protection stage may be deemed invalid by others because there is no obvious difference from the original patent. If only a certain part of the appearance has changed during the product upgrade, you can apply for a design patent for this part alone. As a separate component, its shape change is enough to distinguish it from the existing design, and it is easy to get authorization. 3. Local application is better than the whole. If the patented product is assembled from multiple parts, it will be a better choice to split the whole lamp into multiple parts with authorized prospects and apply for a design patent separately if the applicant's budget allows. 4, find innovation, the smallest unit. The products provided by the applicant may contain many innovations. In order to save costs, the applicant can regard the whole product as a patent application. Because there are many innovations, patents are easy to evade. To extract innovation points, a single innovation point applies for a patent separately, forming a multiple patent layout. 5, design points, try to. A patent with the design point of "shape, color and pattern" almost declares: I just want this design to be authorized, and I have no intention of defending rights. The more design points are written, the smaller the scope of patent protection, and the easier it is to be circumvented. 6, modeling innovation, apply for modeling. If the product's shape, pattern or their combination, and the combination of color and shape and pattern are innovative, you can apply for a design patent separately for the product's innovation in shape. Because the colors and patterns of products are easy to be changed, which has a great influence on the appearance of products, applying for a patent for shape and appearance design without colors and patterns can win a greater scope of patent protection. 7. Don't use color if it's not necessary. Under the premise of obtaining authorization, avoid asking for color protection in design specifications. Some applicants believe that requesting color protection can make the patent closer to their own products and play a better protection effect. In fact, once this is done, others may just change the color of the product to avoid patents. 8. The product has not moved, and the appearance is the first. You should apply for a patent before the product is made public and put into use, otherwise the patent may become existing technology due to prior sales, and will eventually be invalid or lost due to the defense of existing technology. According to the patent attorney, when the patentee asks about the prospect of the case with products and patent certificates suspected of infringement, the first question they need to know is: Has the patent application been exhibited and sold to the outside world at present? This problem is especially fatal to design patents. Inventions and utility model patents generally involve internal structure, which is difficult to prove. However, design patents are often taken on web pages (such as Taobao's sales records). 9. Appearance copyright, cross application. Many applicants believe that the product appearance has been protected by copyright registration, and there is no need to apply for a design patent. In fact, the latter's protection and compensation are much greater. Only through copyright protection, the compensation fee obtained by the right holder may be lower than the profit obtained by the infringer, which may lead the infringer to take risks to continue the infringement, or the compensation amount may not be enough to balance the expenditure (time, money and energy) of the right holder on rights protection, which may dampen the right holder's enthusiasm for rights protection or even give up rights protection. Therefore, only copyright can not achieve a strong protection effect. It is suggested that the design patent and copyright registration should be applied at the same time. 10, something professional, find a professional. Although compared with invention patents and utility model patents, applications for design patents have lower technical content and are easier to obtain authorization. However, confirming the right should not be the ultimate goal of the patent, and the subsequent process of using the right to safeguard rights is the focus of the patent's transformation into useful value. Therefore, patent agencies should fully explore patent innovation based on the basic principle of effectively protecting patentees.