U.S. Patent No. D825,137 S (‘137) issued on August 14, 2018, for “Garment with Cannabis Leaves.” It was issued to inventor/applicant Brian K. Reaux of Red Oak, Texas. This patent is a design patent under 35 U.S.C. §171, which protects the ornamental features of an article of manufacture. The features cover the design on the article of clothing, rather than the article of clothing itself. Specifically, as shown in the drawing below, the unbroken claimed elements of the ‘137 is the cannabis leaves ornamentation on the article of clothing.
Figure 1 below illustrates the ornamental features of the rotisserie fryer.
Under 35 U.S.C. §173, design patents have a patent term of 15 years if its filing date is after May 13, 2015. However, because the ‘137 patent’s filing date is August 18, 2014, it has a patent term of 14 years (MPEP 1505). This is a result of the enaction date of the Patent Law Treaties Implementation Act (PLTIA), which was May 13, 2015. The ‘137 patent will expire on August 14, 2032.
The Cooperative Patent Classification are A47G (household or table equipment), subclass include 9/0253 (pillow slips); G09F (displaying; advertising; signs; labels or name-plates; seals), subclass 21/02 (mobile visual advertising by carrier person or animal); and A41D (outerwear; protective garments; accessories), subclasses 1/04 (vests, jerseys, sweaters or the like) and 27/08 (trimmings, ornaments).
Although this is not the most original of patents, the ‘137 patent does represent an example of what can be protected as a design patent, which currently is about 10% of all patents issued by the USPTO. This number, however, is growing as more of American businesses begin to see the benefits of protecting ornamental features of articles of manufacture. Please contact Yonaxis for more information on patent processes if you have any questions.