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Full-Text Articles in Law
Progress And Competition In Design, Mark Mckenna, Katherine J. Strandburg
Progress And Competition In Design, Mark Mckenna, Katherine J. Strandburg
Journal Articles
This Article argues that applying patent-like doctrine to design makes sense only if a design patent system is premised on a patent-like conception of cumulative progress that permits patent examiners and courts to assess whether a novel design reflects a nonobvious step beyond the prior art. If there is a meaningful way to speak of such an inventive step in design, then design patent doctrine should be based on that conception. If nonobviousness has no sensible meaning in design, then a patent system cannot work for design. At present, design patent doctrine is in disarray because it is unmoored from …