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Functionality And Graphical User Interface Design Patents, Michael Risch
Functionality And Graphical User Interface Design Patents, Michael Risch
Working Paper Series
Modern designers of graphical user interfaces, or GUIs, have obtained design patent protection for creative computer software displays, a realm previously limited to copyright. The difference in protection is important because design patents do not traditionally allow the same defenses - life fair use - associated with copyright. Apple's nearly billion dollar judgment against Samsung, which included such a GUI patent, brought this issue to the forefront.
This article answers three emerging questions:
1. Aren't GUIs something that should be protected by copyright only? Why should there be a patent? The answer is relatively simple: the law has, since 1870, …