The American Bar Association (ABA)’s Section of Intellectual Property Law (IPL) will be holding its 29^th Annual Intellectual Property Law Conference on April 2-4, 2014, at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel, in Arlington, VA.  Of interest, on April 3^rd at 1:45, conference participants will be able to attend a workshop entitled “The Rise of Design Protection: From Spoons & Carpets to Smartphones & Cars.” The ABA-IPL published this summary for the workshop:

Design protection has recently taken the spotlight due to some high-profile, high-stakes cases. Join these panelists for a practitioner-focused overview of design rights, where they will look into: why design patents require a different perspective from utility patents; what the most successful approaches are in prosecuting and litigating design patents; whether the approach to design rights in the U.S. is different from other countries undergoing such a surge.

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The State Intellectual Property Office of China (SIPO) recently issued an order indicating that design patent protection for Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) will soon be available in China.  The order, which provides amendments to a number of sections of the Guidelines for Patent Examination, follows as an update to a previously released draft amended version of the Guidelines for Patent Examination, and becomes effective on May 1, 2014.

Notably, designs directed to human-computer interactable GUIs, including dynamic or animated GUIs, will be protectable.  However, the new provisions exclude protection for designs not directed to a product’s function or human-computer interaction, such as wallpaper on an electronic screen, turn-on/turn-off screens and graphical layout and text of a webpage. 

International Mulch Company, Inc. (Mulch) filed a complaint requesting declaratory judgment against Novel Ideas, Inc. (Novel) in the Eastern District of Missouri Eastern Division on March 11, 2014 (4-14-cv-00446).

In the complaint, Mulch requested a Declaratory Judgment of patent non-infringement and invalidity of two design patents owned by Novel, US D640,268 (’268) and US D654,191 (’191), both directed to flexible landscape edging.

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The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office) has adopted an interim rule, effective March 5, 2014, pertaining to Continued Prosecution Applications (CPAs), which are only available for design patent applications.

A CPA is typically filed when prosecution on the merits is closed in a design patent application.  For example, after the Examiner issues a final rejection in a design application, the Applicant may file a CPA in order to continue prosecution in front of the Examiner, instead of appealing the final rejection to the Patent Trial and Appeals Board.  A Request for Continued Examination (RCE) is not allowed in a design patent application.

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Skyline USA, Inc. (Skyline) recently filed two complaints asserting infringement of a design patent directed to a combined flashlight and stun gun.

In the first complaint filed February 7, 2014, Skyline alleged infringement by Cutting Edge Products, Inc. (Cutting Edge), in the Middle District of Florida, Orlando division (6:14-cv-212-ORL-36GJK).

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