[Article / Chinese and US designs] Points to note in international design applications designating China and the United States (Design Committee, Patent, April 2025)
Updated: 2 hours ago
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Categories: United States / China
Topics: International design filings
Published on this website: 2026-09-29
[Article / Chinese and US designs] Points to note in international design applications designating China and the United States (Design Committee, Patent, April 2025)
1. Points to note when designating the United States
Design patent practice: In the United States, designs are protected under patent law, so claim clarity is given extremely high importance.
If the original drawings are unclear, an amendment adding shading later carries a high risk of being regarded as adding new matter.
Description wording: Deletion of functional expressions and details concerning the article’s use tends to be required.
Disclaimers (exclusions from the scope of rights) are also recommended.
2. Points to note when designating China
(1) Limits on protected subject matter: “Designs created by patterns, colors, or their combination on flat printed matter, whose principal function is indication, are protected in Japan but are not eligible for design protection in China.” (Translation of quotation.)
(2) Unit of a partial design: In China, it must constitute a visually independent “complete design unit”; an area arbitrarily divided by a chain line, as in Japan, may not be accepted.
(3) Auxiliary lines in drawings: Unlike the United States, China has a strong tendency to require deletion of auxiliary lines (shading lines) showing three-dimensional appearance.
+ Three approaches to obtaining rights efficiently in both the United States and China.
Originally posted on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7510487559681138689/
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