Last April, Stanford Law School hosted a symposium on the subject of Design Patents in the Modern World. We followed the symposium closely last year because it was the largest gathering of design patent practitioners, scholars, and owners ever in one place, as far as we can tell. The Design Patents in the Modern World conference, and other like it last year, signals that design patents have truly arrived as an important, and well-respected form of intellectual property that is finally being used in the manner it was always intended.
Last night, the Stanford Technology Law Review published a compendium of articles discussed and presented during the academic day at last year's conference as Volume 17, Issue 1 of the publication. From the editors - "[t]he Articles in this issue are leading scholarship on design patents, on topics ranging from the doctrine’s theoretical underpinnings, to the scope of design patent protection, to the proper remedy for infringement."
Each of the design patent articles published by the Stanford Technology Law Review last night is a must-read for any design patent enthusiast. Here is the complete compendium (350 pages), or you can link to each of the articles individually, below. Enjoy!
Progress and Competition in Design
Mark P. McKenna & Katherine J. Strandburg
Functionality and Graphical User Interface Design Patents
Michael Risch
Virtual Designs
Jason J. Du Mont & Mark D. Janis
(R)evolution in Design Patentable Subject Matter: The Shifting Meaning of “Article of Manufacture”
William J. Seymour & Andrew W. Torrance
A Rational System of Design Patent Remedies
Mark A. Lemley
Overlapping Intellectual Property Doctrines: Election of Rights Versus Selection of Remedies
Laura A. Heymann
Design Patents: Law Without Design
Peter Lee & Madhavi Sunder
Moving Beyond the Standard Criticisms of Design Patents
Sarah Burstein