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Design Patents
Last update
11/10/2005
There are three distinct phases associated with the process
of obtaining and maintaining a design patent.
Those phases are:
- the application preparation phase,
- the application prosecution phase, and
- the patent issuance phase.
 | The patent application process begins
with you, the inventor, providing a full disclosure of the
invention to me. I, in turn, then provide you with a firm
estimate of the legal fees involved with the preparation
of the application. It usually takes about one month to
coordinate with the drafter for the patent drawings and to
complete the preparation of the design patent application.
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| The next phase of the application
process is the prosecution phase. This phase comprises
tasks such as disclosing potentially relevant references
to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (the “USPTO”)
and responding to one or more communications from the
USPTO, called office Actions. In the first office Action,
the Examiner may reject the application. We then have an
opportunity to respond to the Examiner’s concerns. It is
impossible to determine the amount of time and effort
required to respond to an office Action before it is
received and reviewed. Yet, after I review the office
Action, I can provide a firm estimate as to how much
it will cost to respond to the office Action prior to
beginning preparation of the response. Alternatively the
traditional hourly billing method can be utilized. It is noteworthy to
keep in mind that there may be more than one office Action
with respect to any given application. The prosecution
process can last from about 9 months to about 2 years.
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| After the prosecution is completed, the
next phase of the application process is the issuance
phase. This phase comprises paying the issue fee. A design patent is valid for 14 years from the
issuance of the design patent. There are no Maintenance
Fees associated with design patents.
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