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Bumping Into Your Own Prior Art
There are a number of instances in which an inventor may have his or her own prior art cited against them, either during prosecution of a patent application or during enforcement of an issued patent. The inventor himself likely will not tell the patent attorney about such prior art. Therefore, the diligent attorney will want to raise the issue with the client at the time the application is being drafted or filed.
Design Patents: The Comeback Kid
Intellectual property includes a number of distinct doctrines, some created by legislative action and some by the courts. Patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade dress, and trade secrets all fall under the umbrella of intellectual property rights. Within the patent category, there are three different types of patents—the utility patent, the plant patent, and the design patent. The utility patent is the more commonly known of the three. Utility patents are used to protect “new and useful machines, processes, articles of manufacture, and compositions of 1matter.” The utility patent is generally the strongest form of patent protection in that it can be used to prevent others from making, using, and selling any variations of the invention that are covered by the claims of the patent. Design patent protection was first introduced by Congress in 1842. Prior to that time, the United States did not afford protection to the ornamental features of a new product. Although copyright and trademark protection may also be used now to protect the ornamental features of a product, such protection was not available at the time.