On December 19, 2012, President Obama signed into law the Patent Law Treaties Implementation Act, which makes several significant changes to U.S. design patent law when approved by President Obama.
The significant changes include:
- extending the term of design patents filed after the effective date of the Act to 15 years (from the current 14 years); and
- allowing U.S. applicants to file an international design application before entering the national stage in U.S. and foreign countries; and
- establishing provisional rights for design patent holders to seek damages for pre-issuance infringement if the international application published before the U.S. design patent was granted.
My colleagues Gerry Norton and Seth Kramer have published a more detailed description of the anticipated new law. The article is available via this link at the Fox Rothschild website.
IP Spotlight 