Taylor Swift’s team recently filed new trademark applications for two sound marks for Taylor’s voice, and one design mark for a glittering image from the Eras Tour:
Trademark U.S. Serial No. 99/784,977
Continue Reading Taylor Swift’s Trademark Filings for Her Voice and Image May Help Combat AI Misuse
On March 13, 2026, and effective immediately, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a notice of “Supplemental Guidance for Examination of Design Patent Applications Related to Computer-Generated Interfaces and Icons” in the Federal Register (“Supplemental Guidance”), with application to all design patent applications filed before, on, or after March 13, 2026. In short, the Supplemental Guidance establishes that when the title and claim identify a computer, computer system, or computer display panel as the article of manufacture, there is no longer a requirement to depict that article of manufacture in the drawing or drawings to ensure that a claimed design of a computer-generated interface or icon for that article of manufacture is patent-eligible subject matter. The Supplemental Guidance also opens the door for standalone design protection of projected, holographic, and virtual and augmented designs that appear on or are generated by an electronic device.
Continue Reading Leave the Article, Take the Design: USPTO Updates Guidance for Digital Designs to Drop the Depiction Requirement for Computer Screens
With the Masters Tournament beginning tomorrow, this article is a timely reposting of our 2020 article on trademark rights in the iconic Green Jacket design.
Continue Reading Augusta National Blazes a Trail to Registration of its Iconic Green Jacket
Each year on March 5, the U.S. design community celebrates National Industrial Design Day, a moment to recognize the professionals behind the products we use every day. First entered into the U.S. Congressional Record in 2015, the day acknowledges that industrial designers improve our lives in countless ways by shaping products that are not only functional, but also visually distinctive and commercially valuable. For businesses, great design is more than aesthetics; it is a strategic asset. Thoughtfully-designed products drive consumer recognition, brand loyalty, and significant revenue across industries.
Continue Reading Happy National Industrial Design Day
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) announced on February 10, 2026 that it has added a new category to its Trademark Design Search Code Manual for sound and motion marks. The Manual now includes new Category 30, which adds seven codes to enable trademark applicants and practitioners to more readily identify relevant sound and motion marks in clearance searches.
Continue Reading USPTO Adds New Design Search Codes for Sound and Motion Trademarks
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s recent decision in Range of Motion Products v. Armaid is another reminder that, if care is not taken, design patent scope can be narrowed significantly in the U.S. through functionality analysis—often at the claim construction stage—and even result in summary judgment of non-infringement.
Continue Reading When “Functionality” Swallows Design Rights: A Caution for Design Patent Applicants
For many product-focused companies, design often is the product. Differentiation lives in surface ornamentation, overall look-and-feel, and visual details that drive purchasing decisions often long before utility is evaluated. Against that backdrop, many brands are reexamining copyright law as a faster, more flexible tool for protecting product aesthetics.
Continue Reading The Growing Role of Copyright in Product Design Protection
As we wrote about recently here, Examiners continue to rely on the USPTO’s current guidance on the definiteness standard set forth by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”) in In re Maatita, 900 F.3d 1369, 1377 (Fed. Cir. 2018), that ignores the Federal Circuit’s broader instruction—reasonable certainty is all that is required to satisfy the requirements of 35 U.S.C. § 112, not the specific type or quantities of views that the Applicant has chosen to use.
Continue Reading Another Step Forward: Further Updates on In re Maatita and Design Definiteness
On August 8, 2025, Baylor University filed a federal lawsuit against Boston University alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition over Boston University’s use of an interlocking BU design.
Continue Reading Universities Battle Over Logos in Recently Filed Trademark Lawsuit
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has announced the rollout of DesignVision, an advanced AI‑powered image search tool now integrated into the examination system for U.S. design patent applications. According to the Official Gazette notice published July 16, 2025, DesignVision enables examiners to perform federated searches of U.S. and foreign industrial design and trademark databases—spanning over 80 registers—using only image inputs. Results are ranked by visual similarity, allowing faster and more precise prior art discovery. The notice clarifies that this tool is intended to augment existing textual search methods, not replace them.
Continue Reading AI Search Tool Coming to Design Patent Examination