Functionality in Design Patent Law: Untangling Validity from Claim Scope

36 questions on functionality in design patent law, answered and cited by the UpLaw editorial team.

• Can a court delete a functional element from a claimed design?
• Can one product carry both a utility patent and a design patent?
• Did LKQ v. GM change the functionality doctrine?
• Did the Federal Circuit accept aesthetic functionality in design patent law?
• Does consumer appeal make a design functional?
• Does having functional features invalidate a design patent?
• Do exhaustion and the right to repair let aftermarket makers copy a patented design?
• How did Samsung v. Apple change the total-profit calculation?
• How does functionality affect the damages base?
• How does functionality make a design patent stronger or weaker?
• How does LKQ change functionality litigation strategy?
• How does the alternative-designs inquiry actually work?
• How does the article-of-manufacture fight play out for a consumer appliance?
• How does the USPTO examine for functionality?
• How do I analyze a functionality challenge to a product with obviously necessary parts?
• How do I overcome a functionality rejection in design prosecution?
• How do other countries treat design functionality?
• How high is the "ornamental" bar?
• How is design patent infringement judged?
• Is design-patent functionality the same as trade-dress functionality?
• Isn't the overlap between form and function a defect in the system?
• What are the two jobs the word "functionality" does in design patent law?
• What damages are available for design patent infringement?
• What did Curver Luxembourg hold about the recited article?
• What did Ethicon Endo-Surgery hold about functional features?
• What does § 171 require of a design patent?
• What factors determine whether a design is dictated by function?
• What is the Avia/L.A. Gear distinction?
• What is the current rule on functionality and claim scope?
• What is the step-by-step framework for a design patent functionality issue?
• What is the validity standard for design patent functionality?
• What was the "factoring out" approach of Richardson?
• When does a functionality validity challenge actually win?
• When is the alternative-designs inquiry anchored in time?
• Why does the "article of manufacture" requirement matter?
• Why is functionality the doctrine that most reliably trips up patent lawyers?