PERRY TO SPEAK ON DESIGN PATENT PROTECTION FOR REPLACEMENT PARTS

I am pleased to announce that I will be speaking in an upcoming Strafford live video webinar, "Design Patent Protection for Replacement Parts: Drafting Claims, Differences Between U.S. and European Treatment" on Tuesday, April 19, 1:00pm-2:30pm EDT. 

Most products from personal care items to appliances to printers to automobiles require replacements parts at some point. These replacement parts provide companies with an ongoing source of revenue. While utility patents provide protection for the function and structure of replacement parts, companies can and should look to design patents for protecting the appearance of their replacement parts, thereby excluding others from creating and selling a replacement part that looks substantially the same as the company's patented part. 

The U.S. and Europe have wholly different treatment of design protection for replacement parts. There are certain circumstances under which design protection is prohibited for replacement parts in Europe. This is in contrast to the U.S. where there are currently very few such restrictions, although legislation recently introduced into Congress aims to tighten those restrictions. 

Other issues may arise in the U.S. around claiming replacement parts—functionality, partial designs, the title of the patent, and defining the article of manufacture for total profit damages. 

Our panel will guide patent counsel on design patent protection for replacement parts. The panel will examine the key considerations when defining and drafting design patent claims for replacement parts. The panel will also discuss the differences between U.S. and European treatment of design patents for replacement parts, and pending US legislation that will affect  design patent enforcement for replacement parts.   

We will review these and other key issues: 

*Key considerations for counsel in drafting US design patents for replacement parts, including partial designs, choosing the title of the application, and consideration of the article of manufacture 

*Differences between the U.S. and European treatment of design patents/registrations for replacement parts 

*How recent U.S. legislation will affect design patents for replacement parts 

*The corporate counsel viewpoint for protecting and enforcing design patents and registrations for replacement parts worldwide 

In addition to myself, the faculty will include my dear colleague Ewan Grist of Bird & Bird (London) an expert in enforcement and litigation of EU designs, and Bart Fisher, IP Corporate Counsel of Caterpillar (full disclosure: a client) who deals with replacement part registration and enforcement worldwide.  Bart is currently chair of the IPO (Intellectual Property Owners Association) Industrial Designs Committee.

After our presentations, assuming there is time remaining, we will engage in a live question and answer session with participants so we can answer your questions about these important issues directly. 

I hope you'll join us. 

To register click here.