Introduction
In 2024, a full one third of all issued design patents received at least one non-final rejection during prosecution (46,589 issued, 15,425 non-final rejections). The most frequent rejections were for failure to properly disclose depth of certain design elements, drawing inconsistencies, and improper use or description of broken lines. Other common rejections were for anticipation, obviousness, improper title, and including inappropriate language in the specification.
Source of Data:
Number of Issued Patents: Lexis/Nexis Total Patent One
Number of Non-Final Rejections and statistics below: DesignPatentPro.com ProSearch
LKQ v. GM and Obviousness
For those interested in design patents and monitoring how the new LKQ v. GM, 102 F.4th 1280 (Fed. Cir. 2024) en banc obviousness decision is being interpreted and applied at the USPTO and the PTAB, in 2024 there were five prosecutions, two appeal decisions (both unpublished and unavailable at the PTAB website), and one Inter Partes Review that mention the LKQ v. GM en banc decision, as follows:
29/838,012 (Dec. 31, 2024) See post here
29/866,647 (Dec. 24, 2024)
29/866,534 (Nov. 12, 2024)
29/867,225 (Oct. 22, 2024)
29/783,708 (Oct. 15, 2024)
2023-001595U (Sep. 20, 2024)
2023-001466U (Sep. 18, 2024)
IPR2024-00525 (Aug. 6, 2024)
Other Important and Relatively Recent Case Law
As far as citation of other important and relatively recent case law, the number of citations in 2024 are:
In re SurgiSil, 14 F.4th 1380, 1382, 2021 USPQ2d 1008 (Fed. Cir. 2021) (design claim limited to the article of manufacture identified in the claim)
Design Patent Applications: 31
PTAB Appeal Decisions (unpublished): 1
Curver Luxembourg, SARL v. Home Expressions, Inc., 938 F.3d 1334, 2019 USPQ2d 341 (Fed. Cir. 2019) (a design patent’s scope is limited to the article of manufacture identified in its claim and title)
Design Patent Applications: 139
PTAB Appeal Decisions (unpublished): 1
In re Maatita, 900 F.3d. 1369, 127 USPQ2d 1640 (Fed. Cir. 2018) (Three-dimensional design can be understood from a two-dimensional drawing when an ordinary observer can understand the design for purposes of determining infringement)
Design Patent Applications: 105
PTAB Appeal Decisions (unpublished): 1
IPR Decisions: 1
In re Owens, 710 F.3d 1362, 106 USPQ2d 1248 (Fed. Cir. 2013) (Unclaimed boundary lines satisfy the written description requirement where they make explicit a boundary that already exists, but was unclaimed in the original disclosure)
Design Patent Applications: 168
