To tie in with the “Design Patent Substantive Examination Benchmark” revised in 2020, Taiwan’s Intellectual Property Office (hereinafter the IP Office) updated the “Notes on Design Patent Specification and Drawings” in May of this year. A summary of the Notes is as follows:
I. The Specification shall include the title of the claimed design, as well as a literal description of the design by making reference to the drawings.
(1) Title
The applicant may choose as the title the name of an article referred to in the “International Industrial Design Classification (Tier 3)” published by the IP Office or a name commonly used in the relevant art. Moreover, any obscure, imprecise, irrelevant, or redundant wordings shall not be included in the title.
(2) Function and intended use of the article to which a claimed design is applied
The function and intended use of the article to which a claimed design is applied shall be included in the specification, unless the title is fully descriptive of the article or the article is clearly illustrated in the drawings.
(3) Description of the claimed design
1. A description of the outer appearance of a design, including its shape, pattern, or coloring shall be included in the specification with reference to the drawings, unless the outer appearance of the design is entirely and clearly illustrated in the drawings.
2. The following circumstances shall be described in the specification, if any:
i. the disclosed content of the drawing(s) contains that which does not form part of the claimed design;
ii. for computer icons and graphic user interfaces applied to an article, if the outer appearance(s) thereof may change, the sequence of the changes shall be stated;
iii. part of the drawings is omitted due to sameness or symmetry, or any other causes.
3. A concise statement can be included in the specification when necessary or under any of the following circumstances:
i. where the outer appearance of a design changes due to the characteristics of different materials used, adjustment of the function, or change of the state of use;
ii. where there are auxiliary drawings or reference drawings; or
iii. the name of each item in a set of articles (used or needed for a specific purpose) embodied in a design application.
II. A description of Image Designs could be as follows:
An “article” to which a design is applied may be identified as: “a display”, “a screen”, “a display panel” or any other physical article with a display device. It may also be identified as “computer software product”, “computer software”, and the like.
(1) Title
The following are exemplified titles that may be used for image designs:
1. for application programs or software which do not have a physical form, they can be identified as, e.g. “images generated by computer programs” or “software graphical user interfaces.”
2. for physical items such as: “screen”, “mobile phone”, “washing machine”, the images applied thereto may be identified as, e.g. “screen images,” “mobile phone images,” or washing machine images.
(2) A description of the article to which an Image Design is applied
If intended, a description of the intended use of the article to which an image is applied can be included in the specification.
(3) A description of an Image Design
If there are multiple views included in the drawings, a description shall be made in the specification regarding the relationship of the multiple views and the sequence of change of the views.
(4) Drawings
1. If the article to which an Image Design is applied is a “computer program product” that does not have a physical form, the drawings may only disclose the “front view” or “plan views” of the computer image or graphical user interface, without the need to draw the screen, display, or other physical articles in solid or dashed lines.
2. If an image design is applied to a specific article, e.g. “display”, “mobile phone” or “washing machine”, the article to which it is applied shall be omitted and replaced by a circumferential dotted line that surrounds the image design, suggesting that the article not illustrated in the drawings does not form part of the claimed design.
3. If a design carries the characteristics of a three-dimensional image, such as an image generated through 3D projection, a three-dimensional image generated by VR image (the left side views), it may be illustrated in the drawings in the form of perspective views or the like. Moreover, in order to accommodate the specific form of an article (the right side views), the design can be illustrated in a perspective view(s) or the like.
4. If an Image Design is in possession of changing outer appearance, multiple views should be included in the drawings to illustrate the changing process of the design. Multiple views can be chosen as representative views so that the changing process can be shown in a more manifest manner.
III. A literal description of an Architectural Design and an Interior Design
(1) Specification
Where an application is filed for an Architectural Design or an Interior Design, the claimed subject matters shall be straightforwardly recited in the title of the design, e.g. buildings, bridges, kitchens, bedrooms.
(2) Title
Where an application is filed for a design in part, the claimed portion of the design shall be recited in the title, e.g. kitchen, or part of a kitchen; bedroom or part of a bedroom.
(3) Drawings
1. Architectural Design and Interior Design are creations with spatial stereoscopic sense. The applicant ought to depict the stereoscopic appearance in order to highlight the overall visual effect. Therefore, a perspective view should be included in the drawings.
2. Given that the aesthetical feature of an Interior Design resides in the display of an internal space, it is possible to show the characteristics of internal space by omitting part of the wall, or using section view. Alternatively, a viewing angle may be provided inside the space to reveal the projection view of the angle.
3. An orthographic projection view presented by an internal viewing angle and each view should be marked as, e.g. “the front view of an interior viewing angle,” or “the rear view of an internal viewing angle,” and so on so forth so as to avoid confusion with the six side views of a general viewing angle.
IV. Architectural Design
An exemplified Architectural Design is drawn in ink with the aid of computer graphics (left side view below). The changing outer appearance of the Architectural Design is illustrated therein. (right side views below)
V. The Drawings for Interior Design
- Example 1: demonstrated by section view
- Example 2: omitting part of the wall
- Example 3: demonstrated by providing a viewing angle inside the space to reveal the projection view thereof.
The notes published by the IP Office this time provide a useful tool for the applicant to prepare proper specifications and drawings for design applications of different kinds.