In the tech world, the design of the user interface (UI) is critical. You can have a great idea and an excellent business model, but if your product doesn’t have a good user interface, then users will struggle to use it and lose interest. When you’re building a SaaS company, this becomes especially important because the UI is what clients use for things like interacting with the software, making purchases, or signing up for services.
Many of the apps commonly used on a daily basis have iconic UI features that users and customers associate with the host software or app. Often, the UI-host association is so strong the IU becomes an integral part of a company’s brand. With that in mind, it is important for a SaaS founder to protect the graphic elements used to make their app unique. This guide will help you learn how to protect your UI with design patents.
디자인 특허는 무엇을 보호합니까?
Design patents protect the ornamental features of an invention and can therefore be used to protect a Graphical User Interface, or GUI for short. A GUI can include graphical icons, animations, and visual indicators to help users understand all the complex features of the program they are using. There are five requirements for what makes something, such as a GUI, eligible for protection by design patent:
- The GUI Must Be An Article of Manufacture. 그림이나 디자인을 특징으로하는 인간이 만든 유형의 물건은 제조품입니다. 그림이나 디자인 만 서있는 것은 제조품이 아닙니다. 따라서 GUI 자체는 제조품으로서 디자인 특허의 대상이 아닙니다. 그러나 GUI가 컴퓨터 또는 모바일 장치 디스플레이에 배치 될 때 GUI는 인간이 만든 유형의 객체 (예 : 컴퓨터 또는 모바일 장치 디스플레이)와 관련되기 때문에 디자인 특허에 의해 보호 될 수 있습니다.
- GUI는 원본이어야합니다. The GUI must be original and not a copy of another’s work. It should be noted that this is applicable even if the original designer is not aware his or her creation was copied. On the other hand, a reassembling or reforming of a previous creation does not run afoul of the originality requirement for design patents.
- GUI는 참신해야합니다. The GUI design application submitted for patenting must be new. As mentioned, a design patent is only for the ornamental aspect of the GUI; it will not provide protection for the mechanics of the GUI’s functionality. Protection for the mechanics of its functionality would require a utility patent.
- GUI는 분명하지 않아야합니다. As technology is almost always based upon a previous innovation, the new GUI must not be obvious to other designers of ordinary skill in the art in light of what already exists in the world. It is very important that it does not replicate any existing designs and instead encompasses something completely new and innovative.
- GUI 디자인은 장식용이어야합니다. When it comes to design patents, the law has a strict requirement for ornamentality. This means that any ornamental aspect of the GUI cannot be connected to the GUI’s functionality. For example, if a certain design is required for functionality, then it cannot satisfy the ornamentality requirement because there would be some dependence between them. Essentially, when looking at patent-eligible designs one consideration is whether they are entirely separate and nondependent on their function in order to qualify as being designs eligible for protection under law.
With the amount of competition in today’s tech world, it is important for a company to be able to differentiate its product amongst competitors. This can be done through UX/UI design that is unique and innovative. We’ve included some examples below that should be examined before identifying the designs you think are particularly innovative within your software.
GUI 디자인 특허 사례
Facebook GUI 디자인 특허 – USD819058S1
하나의 GUI 디자인 특허 출원이 여러 실시 예를 보호 할 수 있습니까?
예, 디자인 특허 출원은 여러 가지 구현을 가질 수 있습니다. 설계자는 종종이 옵션을 사용하여 각 변형에 대해 별도의 신청서를 제출하지 않고도 발명의 다양한 변형을 보여줍니다. 그러나 다중 구현 응용 프로그램의 단점은 상당 할 수 있습니다.
The primary risk to applications with more than one embodiment is the chance that the Patent Examiner will find that the embodiments are distinct, or too dissimilar to be included in a single invention. If this happens, the Examiner may issue a Restriction Requirement Office Action that requires the Applicant to choose (or argue why the restriction is inappropriate) one of the inventions. After selection of an embodiment for examination, the other embodiment is removed from the application. The non-elected embodiment can be claimed later by filing a divisional application during the pendency of the parent patent application.
GUI 디자인 특허가 애니메이션을 보호 할 수 있습니까?
Yes, U.S. design patents are available for animations if specific guidelines, like including two or more views with descriptions that show the sequence, are followed. One can envision clicking on the settings within the camera application, for example, to see how the screen slid to either side from the settings page. It is possible to patent such movement by way of a design patent, as seen with Apple’s “Cover Flow” patent that protects flipping through iTunes or their music player interface.
디자인 특허를받는 데 얼마나 걸립니까?
GUI 디자인 특허에 대한 특허 프로세스는 약 14 개월 after it has been submitted to the USPTO. If your application receives an office action, that could extend the timeline. The patent process for a GUI design patent takes 약 14 개월 USPTO에 제출 된 후. 신청서가 사무실 조치를 받으면 타임 라인이 연장 될 수 있습니다.
디자인 특허 출원의 허용 률은 얼마입니까?
미국의 디자인 특허 출원은 대략 84 %. 허용 된 디자인 응용 프로그램은 USPTO 심사관이 검토하고 디자인 특허를받을 자격이있는 것으로 결정된 응용 프로그램입니다. 허용 비율 또는 허용 비율은 허용 된 디자인 신청 수를 현재 회계 연도에 폐기 된 디자인 신청 수로 나누어 계산합니다.
GUI 디자인 특허 출원에 도움이 필요하십니까?
디자인은 사용자 경험의 필수적인 부분이며 기업은이를 그 어느 때보 다 잘 이해하고 있습니다. 경쟁 업체와 차별화되는 고유 한 UI를 개발하는 데 상당한 생각과 노력을 기울인 경우 지적 재산 포트폴리오의이 구성 요소를 보호하기위한 조치를 취하는 것이 중요합니다. 디자인 특허는 모방범으로부터 UI를 보호하는 효과적이고 비용 효율적인 방법이며 숙련 된 변호사가 UI의 어떤 측면이 디자인 특허 보호를받을 수 있는지 더 잘 이해할 수 있도록 도와드립니다.
자유를 느껴 무료 상담 예약 시작하는.
출처 : https://arapackelaw.com/patents/design-patents/protecting-ui-with-design-patents/