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Design patents are totally different than regular patents though. I have never heard of anyone getting sued because of a design patent.
by appathy 17y ago
Design patents are totally different than regular patents though. I have never heard of anyone getting sued because of a design patent.
- KT 17y agoNo, you get sued then because of trade dress.
- bitwize 17y agoTry putting your own beverage in bottles shaped like Coke's iconic curve bottle. Then you'll hear of it.
- mechanical_fish 17y agoThat's trademark law. Not the same thing as patent law, which in turn is not the same thing as copyright law.
- bitwize 17y agoThe design of a functional thing may be covered under a design patent; and indeed the Coke bottle shape is covered by such a patent. Trademark law refers primarily to the design of nonfunctional things such as logos, the Deep Note sound, etc.
- AlfaWolph 17y agoOne instance I know of is when Gibson Guitars sued Paul Reed Smith Guitars over the single-cut design Gibson uses for its Les Paul guitars (and won).