What I understand: A design patent protects the appearance -- the shape, configuration, and surface decoration -- of an item. A design patent is limited to one claim. A design patent is expressly forbidden from showing alternate positions of components in the drawings. A design patent cannot claim as part of a design features that are hidden from view during normal operation.
So. Let's say I want to protect via design patent the ornamental design of a car -- a neoclassic roadster or rod -- possessed of three different configurations: (a) a 2-door 2-seat roadster; (b) a 2-door, 4-seat roadster, the additional two seats having been uncovered via the removal of a cover over a second cockpit; and (c) a 2-door, 4-seat dual cowl roadster derived from the configuration of (b) via the deployment of a retractable second windscreen.
One option would be to attempt to protect the design incorporating each of the three configurations via three separate applications, each application depicting one configuration as described above, cross-referencing the applications for the convenience of the examiner. ( In which case infringement of any and all of the three filings might be avoided by a builder who adds a different second cockpit, or a luggage rack, or two small side-by-side rumble seats.... )
However, the versatile second cockpit isn't central to the design. In fact, one could argue that it's incidental -- all of that has been done before, after all -- and that the remainder of the car's ornamental features comprise the bulk of the uniqueness and non-obviousness of the design. Would a second filing option be to somehow phantom-line out the portion or area of the car that might be blank turtledeck in configuration (a) such that any use of that volume or attachments thereto would still result in a design "match", and thus also result in effective protection of the design?
So. Let's say I want to protect via design patent the ornamental design of a car -- a neoclassic roadster or rod -- possessed of three different configurations: (a) a 2-door 2-seat roadster; (b) a 2-door, 4-seat roadster, the additional two seats having been uncovered via the removal of a cover over a second cockpit; and (c) a 2-door, 4-seat dual cowl roadster derived from the configuration of (b) via the deployment of a retractable second windscreen.
One option would be to attempt to protect the design incorporating each of the three configurations via three separate applications, each application depicting one configuration as described above, cross-referencing the applications for the convenience of the examiner. ( In which case infringement of any and all of the three filings might be avoided by a builder who adds a different second cockpit, or a luggage rack, or two small side-by-side rumble seats.... )
However, the versatile second cockpit isn't central to the design. In fact, one could argue that it's incidental -- all of that has been done before, after all -- and that the remainder of the car's ornamental features comprise the bulk of the uniqueness and non-obviousness of the design. Would a second filing option be to somehow phantom-line out the portion or area of the car that might be blank turtledeck in configuration (a) such that any use of that volume or attachments thereto would still result in a design "match", and thus also result in effective protection of the design?
Patents: Design Patent Question -- One App Per Configuration
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