The Design Patent Application D___,___

Three decisions made before drafting set the ceiling on what the patent can do: when the design first became public, which article the design is "for," and how much of the appearance to claim.

Before anything is drawn or filed, three questions matter most: have you already shown the design publicly, what product is it for, and which parts of its look you want to own.

What a design patent covers

A design patent protects a "new, original and ornamental design for an article of manufacture" (35 U.S.C. 171). It covers appearance, not function. For applications filed on or after May 13, 2015, the term is 15 years from grant (35 U.S.C. 173), and there are no maintenance fees. Infringement is judged by the ordinary observer test, and an infringer's total profit on the article of manufacture is available as a remedy (35 U.S.C. 289).

In plain terms: if a competitor's product looks substantially the same to an ordinary buyer who knows the earlier designs in the field, it can infringe, even if it is not an exact copy.

Timing and public disclosure

Under the America Invents Act, your own public disclosure made one year or less before filing is not prior art against you (35 U.S.C. 102(b)(1)(A)), and it can block intervening disclosures by others (102(b)(1)(B)). Outside the U.S. the rules are less forgiving. Many countries give little or no grace period, so a disclosure that is harmless here can destroy rights abroad.

Two open questions from the original series still matter. First, must an inventor's pre-filing disclosure fully enable the later design claim to earn the 102(b)(1) exceptions? Design drawing standards are exacting, and designer sketches published before legal review rarely meet them. Second, what counts as "publicly disclosed"? The Federal Circuit has read that phrase narrowly: a private sale is not a public disclosure for the 102(b)(2)(B) exception (Sanho v. Kaijet, 2024), or for the 102(b)(1)(B) exception, even when goods are delivered without confidentiality (NCS Multistage v. Nine Energy, Sept. 14, 2026). The cautious approach remains: file before disclosing, and if a disclosure must come first, make it one that could serve as design patent drawings. If an examiner cites your own grace-period disclosure, a declaration under 37 CFR 1.130(a) establishes that it came from the inventor (filed in Patent Center as "Affidavit-Rule 130(a)").

Search and scope

A design search is visual. It looks at issued design patents, foreign registrations, and products already on the market. It shows how crowded the field is, which tells you how much detail you need to claim to get allowed and how much room you will have against copyists. It also produces references you will have to cite to the USPTO under the duty of disclosure (37 CFR 1.56).

The title names the article in which the design is embodied, by "the name generally known and used by the public" (MPEP 1503.01). It must match the claim and the figure descriptions word for word.

The title is simply the everyday name of the product, like "Lamp" or "Water bottle." The same words must appear in the claim and the figure descriptions.

The title should be short, specific, and descriptive (37 CFR 1.72 caps it at 500 characters), and should not use brand names or marketing terms. It may name the whole article even when only a portion is claimed, or it may name the claimed portion. It may not be directed to less than the claimed design. The MPEP gives four reasons a descriptive title matters: it guides the examiner's search, the assignment of the application, the classification of the patent, and the public's understanding of what the patent covers.

• The title does not define the scope of the claim. Title "Drill bit" with only the shank in solid lines claims the shank (In re Zahn, 617 F.2d 261 (CCPA 1980)).
• Open-ended language such as "or the like" or "or similar article" is allowed when describing environment, never the claimed design.
• An article with multiple parts that work together is named as a single entity: set, pair, combination, unit, assembly.
• Amendments to the title must find support in the original disclosure. No new matter.
• The title appears as a heading on the first page of the specification unless supplied in the application data sheet.

Examiner corrections seen in real file wrappers

From issued design patents, with the reason the examiner required the change:

Screens, GUIs, icons, and projected interfaces

USPTO guidance effective March 13, 2026 loosened title and claim language for computer-generated designs. Titles such as "Icon for a computer display screen," "Graphical user interface for a computer," "Projected interface for a computer system," and "Virtual reality motorcycle interface for a computer" now satisfy the article of manufacture requirement, and the drawings no longer have to show the display screen if the title and claim both identify the article. The older form, "Display screen or portion thereof with graphical user interface," remains acceptable. A bare "Paper stack icon" or "Virtual reality motorcycle interface," with no article named, is still rejected.

The MPEP (R-01.2024) still states the older rule in 1504.01(a). Cite the Federal Register notice (91 FR 12394) when an examiner applies the older language. File histories show examiners withdrawing section 171 rejections within weeks of the guidance, allowing GUI designs without a display screen in the drawings where the title and claim named the article (for example, "Group of Graphical User Interfaces for a Display Screen or Portion Thereof").

A design specification is short because the drawings are the description. Its required job is to identify each view clearly and accurately (37 CFR 1.74, 1.153; MPEP 1503.01, subsection II).

The written part of a design application is short. Its main job is to say what each drawing shows, such as "FIG. 1 is a front view."

37 CFR 1.154(b) suggests this order: preamble, cross-reference to related applications, statement on federally sponsored research, description of the figures, feature description, and the single claim. Only the figure descriptions and the claim are required. The optional parts are covered in FIG. 11.

Figure descriptions: the errors examiners fix most

Numbering

• Use "FIG." (37 CFR 1.84(u)). "Figure" and "Fig." get changed before publication.
• Number views consecutively in Arabic numerals starting with 1. Suffixes such as 1A, 1B, 2A are improper for separate views or embodiments. (Rule 1.84(u)(1) allows letter suffixes only for partial views that together form one complete view.)
• A single view is not numbered: "The FIGURE is a front view of a display screen with graphical user interface showing the new design."

Naming the view

• Top and bottom views are plan views; side views are elevational views. Never "top elevational view" or "side plan view."
• Be complete: "front elevational view," "top plan view," "left side elevational view." Examiners differ on how much is needed, but complete names avoid objections from all of them.
• For perspectives, name the faces shown: "top, front, and right side perspective view."

Embodiments

• With multiple embodiments, say "first embodiment," "second embodiment." Not "an illustrative embodiment."
• With only one embodiment, do not use the word "embodiment" at all. Use "thereof" to refer back.
• For later embodiments, refer back to the figure that introduces them: "FIG. 6 is a right side elevational view of FIG. 5."
• When a restriction removes embodiments, remove their descriptions too.

Article name, positions, and omitted views

• Use the article name exactly as in the title ("bottle with pump," not "bottle"). Drop extra phrases such as "showing another arrangement according to my new design."
• Alternate positions need separate figures, described plainly: "the ribbon of FIG. 1 showing the two bands in an open position."
• Views that duplicate another view, or are flat and unornamented, may be omitted if the specification says so: "the left side being a mirror image," "the rear is flat and unornamented" (MPEP 1503.02).

The broken line statement

Broken lines show unclaimed environment, unclaimed portions of the article, or the boundaries of the claim. Because they can do several jobs, the specification must say which job they do. State the purpose plainly. A bare "for illustrative purposes only," with nothing saying whether the lines show environment, unclaimed portions, or boundaries, is a frequent target: examiners object that it "has no clear meaning," citing MPEP 1503.02(III) and In re Blum, 153 USPQ 177 (CCPA 1967), for the point that broken lines may mean different things in different circumstances. In a sample of file histories reviewed with ProSearch AI ("Gorham") in Design Patent Pro's ProSearch database, about two of every three broken line statement objections required a written reply rather than an examiner's amendment.

Put the statement after the figure descriptions, and leave it out entirely if the drawings have no broken lines.

One claim, in formal terms: "The ornamental design for a [article] as shown," or "as shown and described" when the specification contains any descriptive statement beyond the figure descriptions (37 CFR 1.153(a); MPEP 1503.01, subsection III).

A design patent has exactly one claim, and it is always the same short sentence. The drawings do the real work.

The ornamental design for a beverage container, as shown and described.

Errors are rare because the form is fixed. The most common is an article name that does not match the title. Another is writing "illustrated" instead of "shown."

One claim, several embodiments

A single claim can cover more than one embodiment only if the embodiments are not patentably distinct: they share the same overall appearance and differ only in minor or obvious ways (MPEP 1504.05; In re Rubinfield, 270 F.2d 391 (CCPA 1959)). Otherwise the examiner will require restriction, you elect one, and the rest can go into divisional applications.

The case for multiple claims

The drawings are the claim. They must satisfy enablement and definiteness under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) and (b), and the technical rules of 37 CFR 1.84 and 1.152. A defect that cannot be cured without new matter is fatal to the original filing date.

In a design patent, the drawings are what you own. Anything unclear in them can cost protection, and it usually cannot be fixed after filing.

What Rule 1.152 requires

• Enough views to disclose the complete appearance. Usually front, rear, left, right, top, bottom, and a perspective. A flat, two-dimensional design may need only one plan view (In re Maatita, 900 F.3d 1369 (Fed. Cir. 2018)).
• Surface shading to show the character and contour of surfaces. Spaced lines, as few as practical, lit from the upper left at 45 degrees (37 CFR 1.84(m)). Solid black only to show the color black or color contrast.
• Broken lines for environment and unclaimed portions, never for hidden surfaces or alternate positions.
• Photographs or drawings, not both, in one application. Color drawings and photographs are permitted in design applications with the required color statement (37 CFR 1.84(a)(2)).
• No text, arrows, lead lines, reference numbers, or dimensions on the drawings.

Common drawing errors

Indefiniteness and lack of enablement

The most common error by far: some feature's exact shape, depth, contour, or spatial relationship is left to guesswork. Trouble spots are holes, depressions, raised areas, open or hollow areas, transparent surfaces, complex curves, small details, and visible internal structure. Plain orthographic views without shading rarely show every change in depth. New views and shading cannot be added later without support in the original disclosure.

Inconsistent views

Lines present in one view and missing in another, gaps that differ, a line solid in one view and broken in another, an edge straight in one view and curved in the next. Minor inconsistencies can be corrected if possession is clear. Inconsistencies large enough to make the overall appearance unclear lead to a 112 rejection (MPEP 1504.04). Check each feature through every view, one feature at a time.

Line quality, shading, scale, markings, numbering

• Lines must be clean, black, dense, and uniformly thick. Drawings print at two-thirds size, so closely spaced lines can merge.
• No shading in areas disclaimed with broken lines. Shade lines must be distinguishable from oblique lines that show transparency, and from the solid claim lines.
• If views are omitted, say they form no part of the design or are mirror images.
• Keep all figures of an embodiment at the same scale, or the examiner may ask whether a different-size figure is a separate embodiment.
• Number sheets and views in Arabic numerals with no brackets, circles, or suffixes. Amended sheets are labeled "Replacement Sheet," "New Sheet," or "Annotated Sheet" (37 CFR 1.121(d)).
• Where a solid-line feature meets a broken-line area, define the boundary with a line so the claim's edge is clear.

Required for every inventor (35 U.S.C. 115; 37 CFR 1.63), but it need not be filed on day one. With an application data sheet identifying each inventor, it can be filed as late as the date the issue fee is paid (37 CFR 1.53(f)(3)).

Each inventor signs a short statement that they are an original inventor of the design. It can come later in the process, but it must be in before the patent issues.

What the declaration says

• The inventor's legal name, and the application it relates to.
• A statement that the person believes they are "the original inventor or an original joint inventor of a claimed invention in the application."
• A statement that the application was made or authorized to be made by the person signing.
• An acknowledgment that willful false statements are punishable under 18 U.S.C. 1001 by fine or imprisonment of not more than five years, or both.

The inventor need not state citizenship or swear to being the "first" inventor. Foreign priority claims go in the application data sheet, not the declaration. The duty to review the application and the duty of disclosure still apply through the rules (37 CFR 1.63(c)), so document that each inventor was told about both.

Forms and alternatives

• PTO/AIA/01: declaration for use with an application data sheet.
• PTO/AIA/08: declaration without an application data sheet.
• PTO/AIA/02: substitute statement, when an inventor has died, is legally incapacitated, cannot be found after diligent effort, or refuses to sign. An applicant under 37 CFR 1.43, 1.45, or 1.46 signs it (37 CFR 1.64).
• An assignment that contains the required statements can serve as the declaration if recorded, with a conspicuous indication on the cover sheet (37 CFR 1.63(e), 3.31).

Power of attorney is separate. Naming practitioners in the ADS does not appoint them (37 CFR 1.32). File a power of attorney, usually PTO/AIA/82, signed by the applicant, or a practitioner acting in a representative capacity will be limited in what they can sign.

The USPTO forms are not mandatory, but use them. Small wording changes in homemade forms get declarations rejected.

Filing the declaration after the filing date triggers the late surcharge under 37 CFR 1.16(f) ($170 undiscounted).

Technically optional, practically essential. An ADS (37 CFR 1.76; form PTO/AIA/14 or Patent Center's Web ADS) is required to claim foreign priority or domestic benefit, to name an assignee as applicant, and to postpone the declaration.

The application data sheet is a form with the names, addresses, and filing details. It is technically optional, but you almost always want one.

When you need one

• Foreign priority. A design application claiming priority to a foreign filing must be filed within six months of it (35 U.S.C. 172), and the claim goes in the ADS (37 CFR 1.55). If the six months are missed unintentionally, priority can be restored by petition if the U.S. application is filed within two more months (37 CFR 1.55(c)). Enter the WIPO DAS access code so the priority document is retrieved electronically. The certified copy must be in the file while the application is pending; the 4 and 16 month deadline for utility claims does not apply to designs. A scanned copy uploaded to Patent Center does not count, and a copy arriving after the issue fee is paid needs a certificate of correction. Check the file for a successful retrieval before paying the issue fee.
• Domestic benefit. A continuation, divisional, or CIP must reference the parent in the ADS (37 CFR 1.78). Design applications cannot claim the benefit of a provisional application (35 U.S.C. 172; MPEP 1504.20).
• Assignee as applicant. An assignee or obligated assignee may be the applicant (35 U.S.C. 118; 37 CFR 1.46), identified in the ADS.
• Postponing the declaration. An ADS naming every inventor lets the declaration follow later (37 CFR 1.53(f)(3)).

The ADS must be signed by a registered patent practitioner, or by the applicant if the applicant is an individual (37 CFR 1.33(b), 1.76(e)). A company applicant signs through its practitioner. An unsigned ADS is treated only as a transmittal letter.

Filing, search, and examination fees are due with the application or within the period set in a notice, with a surcharge (37 CFR 1.16, 1.53(f)). The issue fee follows allowance. There are no maintenance fees for design patents.

You pay three government fees when you file and one more when the patent is allowed. Small businesses and individual inventors usually pay less. Once granted, a design patent has no renewal fees.

Entity status

Small entity (60 percent off most fees) covers individual inventors, nonprofits, and businesses with 500 or fewer employees, counting affiliates, that have not assigned or licensed rights to a large entity (37 CFR 1.27). Micro entity (80 percent off) adds limits on prior filings and gross income, or an institution of higher education basis, and requires a signed certification (37 CFR 1.29; forms PTO/SB/15A or 15B).

Most office actions in design cases are preventable. This audit draws on a review of design file histories in Design Patent Pro's ProSearch database, using ProSearch AI ("Gorham") to identify the objections, rejections, notices, and fees that recur (September 2026), and what would have prevented each one before filing. Examples are cited by issued patent number.

Many delays and extra fees in design applications come from problems that could have been caught before filing. This checklist is drawn from real application histories. Go through it with your attorney before anything is filed.

Costs a round an office action and reply   Costs a fee a surcharge, petition, or correction   Costs time a notice or delay

1. The client's own disclosures

Examiners routinely find the applicant's own product online and reject over it under 102(a)(1). Nearly every such rejection in the sample was overcome with a Rule 130 declaration, but each cost at least one round, and some cost two and a final rejection.

2. Drawings

Drawing-based 112 rejections were the most common rejection in the sample, and drawings cannot be freely fixed after filing. The cure often costs as much as the defect.

3. Title, specification, and claim

The broken line statement was the item examiners corrected most often, and about two of every three broken line objections in the sample needed a written reply. Title problems that affect what article is claimed also drew full office actions.

4. Scope and portfolio

5. Papers, priority, and fees

6. Before paying the issue fee

A screen-by-screen walk through a design filing in Patent Center, captured in September 2026 from a live test submission that was cancelled before payment. The USPTO's own user guide is written around utility filings; the design-specific traps are marked here.

Applications are filed online through the USPTO's Patent Center website. These are the actual screens, in order, with notes on what to enter and what to watch for.

Screens captured September 2026. Patent Center changes from time to time, so labels and layout may differ slightly. Names, customer numbers, and addresses are placeholders.

Before you start

• A USPTO.gov account with identity verification and two-step sign-in. Practitioners can sponsor staff to file for them.
• A customer number. It fills in the correspondence address automatically and puts the application in your Workbench.
• Final PDFs, named plainly (for example "Specification.pdf," "Drawings.pdf," "Declaration.pdf"): the specification with the claim, the drawings, signed declarations if available, and a power of attorney, micro entity certification, or IDS if needed. Design documents may be PDFs; the DOCX requirement on the Patent Center home page applies only to utility applications.

1. Choose the submission type

From the blue bar, open New submission and choose Design under Regular Submissions. The progress bar on every later screen confirms "Design, Nonprovisional Application under 35 USC 171" and tracks four stages: Application data, Upload documents, Calculate fees, Review & submit.

• The same menu holds International design application (Hague) and, under Patent Initiatives, Accelerated Examination - Design (see FIG. 11).
• Track One appears in the menu too, but it does not cover design applications.

2. Application data: choose Web ADS

Patent Center offers three ways to supply the ADS: Web ADS (an online form with error checking), Upload ADS (a filled-in PTO/AIA/14 PDF, not checked online), or No ADS (the screen warns this "may result in additional fees"). Choose Web ADS. It validates the data, and an ADS is what carries priority claims, a company applicant, and the right to file declarations later.

The Web ADS has eleven sections, listed down the left side. Save progress at the bottom lets you stop and return.

Inventors

• Enter each inventor's legal name exactly as it will appear on the signed declaration. Mismatches between the ADS and the declaration are a common cause of USPTO notices.
• Residence and mailing address are separate and both required. Residency Type offers US Residency, Non US Residency (anyone living abroad, whatever their citizenship), and Active US Military.
• The first inventor entered becomes the first named inventor, whose name identifies the case.
• You cannot leave the Web ADS until at least one inventor is entered.

Application details

• Customer number (or a physical address) and Title of invention are required before you can move on. The customer number fills in the address, phone, and email, a quick check that the right number was used.
• The title here is the ADS title. It must match the claim and figure descriptions word for word (see the Title checker in FIG. 2).
• Entity status is optional here; the fee screen controls. Choosing micro does not replace the signed certification.
• Application type and subject matter are locked to Nonprovisional and Design.
• Suggested figure for publication matters little: design applications are not published before grant (35 U.S.C. 122(b)(2)(A)(iv)).
• Leave Filing by reference unchecked.

Representatives

Optional. Choose "Customer number" (simplest, and stays current as attorneys change) or list up to 10 practitioners. The screen itself warns that listing representatives here "does not constitute a power of attorney" (37 CFR 1.32). File a separate power of attorney, usually PTO/AIA/82, signed by the applicant.

Domestic Benefit/National Stage

Skip for an original filing. For a continuation, divisional, or CIP, this entry is the benefit claim itself under 35 U.S.C. 120 and 37 CFR 1.78. The form asks for the prior application's status, the continuity type, and its number and filing date. Enter each link of a chain separately.

• Continuation of: a new claim to the same design as shown in the parent, often a different portion with other parts in broken lines (subject to In re Owens).
• Division of: a design restricted out of the parent.
• Continuation in part of: adds matter; only designs fully shown in the parent keep its date (MPEP 1504.20).
• Do not use for designs: "A 371 of international" (there is no PCT route for designs), "Reissue of" (reissues start from the Post grant menu), and "Substitution of," which gets no benefit of the earlier filing date.
• A design cannot claim a provisional, even though the screen lists 35 U.S.C. 119(e). The parent may be a utility application whose drawings support the design (In re Floyd), or a Hague application designating the U.S.

Foreign priority

• This entry is the priority claim under 35 U.S.C. 119(b) and 37 CFR 1.55. The U.S. design application must be filed within six months of the foreign filing (35 U.S.C. 172).
• Missed it unintentionally? Priority can be restored if the U.S. application is filed within two months after the six-month period, by petition and fee (37 CFR 1.55(c); fee code 1628, $2,260 undiscounted).
• Enter the foreign number with no spaces, punctuation, or country code, up to 17 characters.
• Enter the WIPO DAS access code when the foreign office participates, so the USPTO retrieves the priority document electronically. The applicant still bears responsibility for confirming it arrives: ProSearch files show retrievals failing and patents issuing without perfected priority. A scanned copy of a certified copy uploaded to Patent Center does not count; use DAS retrieval or mail the paper certified copy, and send the certified copy of the foreign application, not a registration certificate. For designs, the certified copy must be in the file while the application is pending (37 CFR 1.55(g)); the 4 and 16 month deadline for utility claims does not apply, and no delayed-claim petition is needed for corrections made during pendency.

First inventor to file

Leave the box unchecked for virtually every design filing. It is the transition statement under 37 CFR 1.55 and 1.78, needed only when the application claims benefit of an application filed before March 16, 2013 and also contains a claim with a later effective filing date. A new design with no pre-2013 parent is examined under the AIA automatically. The banner's wording ("If you are not claiming First Inventor to File...") wrongly suggests otherwise.

Authorization to permit access

Leaving both boxes unchecked authorizes access; you must affirmatively opt out. For designs, leave box A (priority document exchange) unchecked, so foreign offices where you later claim priority can pull the U.S. application electronically. Box B (search results to the EPO) has no practical effect for designs, which the EPO does not examine. This section is read only at initial filing; later changes need PTO/SB/39 or SB/69.

Applicant

Skip if the inventors are the applicants. For a company, check Applicant is an organization, enter its exact legal name (matching the assignment), and choose the type:

• Assignee: the inventors have signed an assignment; record it no later than the issue fee (37 CFR 1.46).
• Person to whom the inventor is obligated to assign: an employment agreement or similar obligation, but no signed assignment yet.
• Legal Representative under 35 U.S.C. 117: an estate or guardian for a deceased or incapacitated inventor.
• Joint Inventor: remaining inventors when one will not sign (37 CFR 1.45). The section's banner says to skip it in that case; follow the banner.
• Person who shows sufficient proprietary interest: a last resort requiring a petition, fee, and proof (37 CFR 1.46(b)(2)).

A company applicant must act through a registered practitioner, and entity status follows everyone holding rights.

Assignee

Usually skip. It controls only the patent application publication, and design applications are not published. The assignee printed on a design patent is set later on the issue fee transmittal (PTOL-85, Part B). Neither this section nor the ADS records an assignment; record it in the USPTO's Assignment Center.

Summary and Signature

• Summary shows every section on one page with edit links, and flags blocking errors. It is the best place to compare the ADS against the declarations and assignment.
• The banner says the ADS "may" be signed later, but in practice Patent Center requires a signature before you can continue to Upload documents. An unsigned ADS would count only as a transmittal letter (37 CFR 1.76(e)).
• Sign with an S-signature between slashes, such as /Jane Q. Practitioner/ (37 CFR 1.4(d)(2)). Patent Center pre-fills the logged-in user's name and registration number; confirm the right person is signing.
• A practitioner must sign if any applicant is a company. Joint inventor applicants sign all together, or through a practitioner or an inventor holding power of attorney (PTO/AIA/81). With the access boxes unchecked, the signature also serves under 37 CFR 1.14(c).

3. Upload documents

• The Web ADS arrives already converted to a PDF labeled "Application Data Sheet." Click Preview and read it; that PDF is what the USPTO receives.
• Drag and drop or browse to add the other files.
• Patent Center labels uploaded files on its own, apparently from the file name. In the test, "Sample Drawings.pdf" was labeled "Drawings-only black and white line drawings" without being asked. Check every label. Fix one through the three-dot menu, "Edit document description."
• "Split document" indexes a single combined PDF by page range, each part with its own label. Separate files are easier to check.

Document labels for a design application

Labels are chosen in two levels: a category, then a description.

Do not use Abstract (designs have none), Specification - Not in English unless it truly is, or Make/Rescind AIA 1.55/1.78 Statement outside a pre-2013 chain.

4. Calculate fees

• Entity status defaults to Regular Undiscounted. Change it here if claiming small or micro, and make sure a micro certification was uploaded.
• The page count field drives the size fee, charged only per 50 sheets over 100.
• "Continuing Applications Fee (CAF), previously paid" refers to the fee for a continuing application filed more than six years ($2,700) or nine years ($4,000) after the earliest benefit date (37 CFR 1.17(w)). Fee codes 1055 and 1056 appear on the design fee screen, so the fee reaches design continuations.
• Check the Petitions box if filing one; the Accelerated Examination petition fee is code 1464 (37 CFR 1.17(h)). The age petition has no fee.
• "Skip fees for now" is allowed but brings the $170 late surcharge (37 CFR 1.16(f)).

5. Review & submit

• The review page shows only the first named inventor and correspondence address, not the whole ADS. Do the real ADS check on the Web ADS Summary page or by previewing the generated ADS PDF.
• Preview every uploaded file, especially the drawings. This is the last look before they become the claim.
• Confirm the payment table lists 1012, 1112, and 1312 (and any petition or other fee) before clicking Submit.
• After payment, save the acknowledgement receipt. It shows the application number, confirmation number, receipt date, and every document received. Check the official filing receipt when it arrives.

The original series promised a column on the optional items. Here it is. Several are worth using routinely; one, the characteristic feature statement, usually is not.

These parts are not required, but some make the patent stronger or the process smoother. Your attorney will decide which to include.

Preamble

States the applicant's name, the title, and "a brief description of the nature and intended use of the article" (37 CFR 1.154(b)(1)). Useful when the article's use is not obvious from its name, because it helps the examiner search the right art. Keep it to use, not appearance.

Characteristic feature statement

A statement identifying the feature the applicant considers new or nonobvious (MPEP 1503.01, subsection II). It does not help patentability, which turns on overall appearance. It can hurt: a descriptive statement narrows claim scope (McGrady v. Aspenglas, 208 USPQ 242 (S.D.N.Y. 1980), cited in the 2026 USPTO guidance). Leave it out in almost every case.

Detailed written description of the design

Permitted, rarely used, and underrated. A careful word description of shape, depth, contour, and open or closed areas can supply support for drawing corrections that would otherwise be new matter, and can back up a pre-filing disclosure. Draft it to describe, not to limit: say what the drawings show without adjectives that a copyist could step around.

Description of portions not illustrated, and disclaimers

The specification may describe claimed portions not shown in the drawings, and disclaim portions not shown (MPEP 1503.01, subsection II). A disclaimer of a solid-line portion is not allowed after filing.

Transmittal forms

A design application transmittal (PTO/AIA/18) and fee transmittal (PTO/SB/17) are optional with Patent Center, which captures the same data. They remain a useful internal checklist.

Information disclosure statement

Anyone involved has a duty to disclose known material information (37 CFR 1.56). File the IDS with the application or within three months to avoid fees and certifications (37 CFR 1.97). Size fees apply once cumulative citations pass 50 (37 CFR 1.17(v)).

Getting examined faster

• Expedited examination ("rocket docket") is gone. The USPTO suspended it for requests filed on or after April 17, 2025, and a final rule removed 37 CFR 1.155 and its fee effective August 14, 2025, citing overall design pendency and erroneous micro entity claims. MPEP 1504.30 still describes the procedure; do not rely on it.
• Accelerated Examination remains available for designs. The USPTO ended the program for utility applications as of July 10, 2025, but kept it for design applications. It is a petition to make special (form PTO/SB/28, fee under 37 CFR 1.17(h), $150 undiscounted) supported by a pre-examination search and an examination support document (MPEP 708.02(a)). In Patent Center, start the filing from New submission, Patent Initiatives, "Accelerated Examination - Design." The regular design submission's upload list has no label for this petition, so it cannot simply be added to an ordinary filing. The examination support document is a significant piece of written advocacy about the prior art, so weigh it against the prosecution history concerns in FIG. 12.
• Track One prioritized examination does not cover design applications, even though it appears in the same Patent Center menu.
• Petition to make special based on an inventor's age (65 or older) or health remains available without a fee (37 CFR 1.102(c)(1); MPEP 708.02). In Patent Center, an age petition is uploaded with the label "Petition to make special based on Age." The list has no separate health label.

Design prosecution is short, but three things decide what you end up with: how you answer rejections, whether you keep a continuation pending, and whether you file abroad in time.

After filing, an examiner reviews the application, often more than a year later. What gets said in responses, and whether follow-on applications are filed, shapes what the patent covers.

Rejections you will see

• 112(a) and (b): drawings nonenabling or indefinite. Answers: point to other views that resolve the ambiguity, correct minor inconsistencies, or convert the area to broken lines. Weigh the last option against the litigation cost in FIG. 5.
• 102: anticipation, judged by the ordinary observer test (MPEP 1504.02).
• 103: obviousness now follows Graham, as in utility cases (LKQ v. GM, 102 F.4th 1280 (Fed. Cir. 2024) (en banc)). The primary reference need only be visually similar, not "basically the same," and the examiner must give a record-supported reason to modify it. The USPTO's May 22, 2024 memo governs examination; MPEP 1504.03 (R-01.2024) has not caught up and still recites the Rosen "basically the same" standard.
• 171: lack of ornamentality or no article of manufacture. For screens and icons, see the 2026 guidance in FIG. 2.
• Restriction: elect, and file divisionals for the rest while the parent is pending.

Tracking the application

Patent Center now includes the USPTO's First Action Estimator, which projects when the first office action may arrive, and, since March 9, 2026, the Automated Interview Request form under Existing submissions for requesting an examiner interview.

Continuations

A continuation must be filed before the parent issues or is abandoned (35 U.S.C. 120). Design applicants may also use a continued prosecution application (37 CFR 1.53(d)). A pending continuation lets you claim new portions from the same drawings once you see what competitors sell, subject to the written description limits in In re Owens. Budget for the continuing application fee: a continuation filed more than six years after the earliest benefit date costs $2,700 extra, and more than nine years $4,000 (undiscounted, 37 CFR 1.17(w)). Patent Center lists these fees on the design fee screen.

Foreign protection

• Paris Convention priority for designs is six months from the first filing (Paris Convention Art. 4C). Treat the six months as firm for filings abroad: whether a missed deadline can be restored depends on each country's law, and many offer no relief for designs. (The two-month restoration in 37 CFR 1.55(c) applies only to a U.S. application claiming foreign priority.)
• The Hague Agreement lets one international application, filed with WIPO or through the USPTO ($130 transmittal fee, undiscounted), designate many member countries, with up to 100 designs in the same Locarno class. Each designated office examines under its own law.
• Check absolute novelty rules and grace periods country by country before any disclosure.

Allowance and after

Pay the issue fee ($1,300 undiscounted) within three months of the notice of allowance; that period cannot be extended. Missing it abandons the application, and reviving a design application costs a petition fee ($2,260 undiscounted if within a year) plus a terminal disclaimer giving up patent term equal to the period of abandonment (37 CFR 1.137(d)). File any continuation before the patent issues. The assignee name printed on the patent comes from the issue fee transmittal (PTOL-85, Part B), not from the ADS, so fill it in there. After grant, mark products, physically or virtually, to preserve damages (35 U.S.C. 287(a)), which applies to design patent profits under 35 U.S.C. 289 as well.