Sep
9
Written by:
Bonnie Griffin Kaake
9/9/2008 7:49 PM
As most good patent attorneys and agents know, a design patent only covers the way something looks, the design. Designs are easy to change. Design patents work quite well for Walt Disney or some other famous entity and are quite licensable in those situations. Most inventors' products and the inventors themselves are not well served with design patents.
What the vast majority of inventors need is a utility patent which covers the way the invention functions and is much more suitable for licensing.
If your attorney, agent or marketing company suggests a design patent, I recommend that you either ask plenty of questions or RUN! By the way, in many states it is not legal for anyone other than a patent attorney or agent to create, file a patent or provisional application for you. It is considered "practicing law without a license." Of course, you can do it yourself, though I would not recommend it.
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