Balance Is Key In Design Patent Claim Drafting

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board recently designated as informative its decision instituting post-grant review and addressing the issues of design patent functionality in Sattler Tech Corp. v. Humancentric Ventures, LLC. No. PGR2019-00030, 2019 WL 3385172 (P.T.A.B. July 26, 2019). The Sattler decision highlights the importance of balancing the proportions of functional and ornamental features claimed in design patent applications.

Let's start with some background on the often confusing issue of design patent functionality. Everyone knows that design patents protect the ornamental appearance of useful articles, but only utility patents protect the things that make them useful. That's why courts read design patents on useful articles as narrow and limited to the particular ornamental designs shown in the drawings; to do otherwise risks expanding design patent scope into the realm of utility patents.