As a business-savvy medical device executive, you likely are well versed on the value of utility patents. But are you aware that a design patent for your product can be an equally important component ...

On March 13, 2026, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published supplemental examination guidance for design patent ...

Demand for design patent protections has been increasing in the last decade, and there is no indication that this trend will slow down. James Rieke, partner at Merchant & Gould, spoke to Minnesota ...

Utility patents are for functional inventions. Design patents protect the look of something functional, regardless of whether the functional aspects are new. Because of this, a popular use of design ...

One of the earliest innovations in personal computing was the application of graphical user interfaces (GUIs) as an intermediary between users and computer programs. This innovation made computers ...

“In two recent design patent cases, two courts were at the same stage of litigation dealing with the same design patent, yet came to opposite conclusions.” Two recent cases are some of the rare ...