Bold Today Show Episode 8: Design Patents vs. Utility Patents

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Posted on August 23, 2023

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By J.D. Houvener
Patent Attorney and Founder

Hey everyone, happy Monday! I’m J.D. Houvener and welcome to The Bold Today Show where you, the inventor and entrepreneur, get your daily inspiration on how to make the world a better place.

This Monday is Lincoln’s birthday, right, President Lincoln, and he’s most known for his big top hat, the big black top hat you’re probably picturing right now. Well, of course, the beard, hard to forget about that. So, Lincoln wore this accessory, and I want you in today’s challenge to wear something different, change your wardrobe. Maybe a different tie, wear something that’s gonna make a difference, even if it’s a pin, a bowtie, or even don an old pair of shoes you haven’t worn in a long time. Even if no one else notices, it might make you feel different.

Today’s patent lesson for the day is that indeed clothing can be patented. So, what you can see is Mr. Al Darude of Nike in the image right here put together this new design, Design 80861, for a new pair of shorts. He’s come up with this neat design that talks about this articulating conical shape on a pair of shorts, and yes, it’s assigned to Nike, but the inventor did it and it’s assigned to the company. How exciting, right? Maybe you can do it too.

Also, with design patents, something to know is that all the searching that I talked about in a lot of these daily programs is all about utility patent applications. There really isn’t that much to do in the way of searching for design patents. It’s such an arduous process, and usually, I don’t recommend it for inventors. Just file the design patent if you think you’ve come up with something new. Get it filed. It’s just not economical to go through the process of trying to look through image after image to see if yours is exactly different or subtly different.

One way you can do this with your wardrobe is I want you to post right here. Take an image of yourself, show how you changed your wardrobe. Have someone else take a picture of you, and by the end of the day, maybe write down what people’s comments were about your new wardrobe, how it might have made you think differently.

I hope you enjoyed today’s session. I’m J.D. Houvener of Bold Patents, and this is The Bold Today Show. Go big, go bold!

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