Welcome to 2020, and Remember the Importance of Design Patents

I remember skiing when no one whore a helmet - now (thankfully) everyone wears a helmet, along with really cool goggles that blend right in to the helmet. The cool factor around wearing a helmet is as much about the helmet as it is the goggles. And outdoor companies are using design patents to protect their unique look.

Even in the short time of the new year, we already have new design patents on goggles issuing, including D872,168, which issued on Jan. 7, 2020.

As you can see, the applicant here is based in China but does not claim priority to any previous Chinese filing, indicating that the primary target market for the design is the US. What is novel about these goggles you ask? The answer is that the overall look/design apparently distinguished the cited art, which included citations to almost a hundred prior art references.

Design patents offer a path for specific, yet strong, protection for new designs and serve to keep competitors away from your unique design language.