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Course Details

Course Information
  • smart_display Format

    On-Demand

  • signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level

    Intermediate

  • work Practice Area

    Patent

Date & Time
  • event Date

    Thursday, June 6, 2024

  • schedule Time

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

  • timer Program Length

    90 minutes

Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.

$347.00
CLE
ALL

This CLE course will guide IP counsel on protecting graphical user interface (GUI) in the U.S. and worldwide. The panel will examine the advantages of design patent protection over other forms of IP and offer best practices for obtaining meaningful design protection for GUI.

Faculty

Robert S. Katz
Principal Shareholder
Banner & Witcoff Ltd

Both nationally and internationally, Mr. Katz is considered one of the premier practitioners in the field of industrial designs, leading the way in the procurement and enforcement of design patents. On behalf of the firm’s clients, he has helped procure more than 10,000 design patents in the U.S. and more than 30,000 design patents/registrations outside the U.S. and has helped to successfully enforce over 100 design patents. Leaders from foreign design patent offices have consulted with him regarding industrial design policies, and he has served as an expert in design patent litigations. Mr. Katz holds leadership positions in several professional organizations, including ABA, AIPLA, FICPI and INTA. He is the past Chair of INTA’s Designs Committee and Vice President of FICPI’s U.S. Section. For the ABA Section of Intellectual Property Law, he currently serves as Liaison to FICPI. He also serves as a member of the Industrial Designs working group of the AIPLA Special Committee on Legislation. Mr. Katz is a former Chair of the Industrial Design Section for both FICPI and AIPLA, and also a member of IDSA and IPO.

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Tracy-Gene Durkin
Director
Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox Pllc

Ms. Durkin heads the firm’s Mechanical and Design Patent Group. With nearly 30 years of experience obtaining and enforcing IP rights, she has a deep understanding of utility and design patents, trademarks, and copyrights. Ms. Durkin has been an Adjunct Professor at George Mason University Law School and has spoken internationally on topics such as the interplay between design patents and trade dress, and protection of user interface and the user experience. She is currently a Vice Chair of the Industrial Designs Committee of IP Section of the ABA.

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Description

The use of GUI--the icons and visual indicators used to control electronic devices, phones, ATMs, computers, and other technology--to interface with users directly is now ubiquitous. As a result, GUIs have become a crucial representation of companies and their brands (remember the smartphone wars?).

In addition, given the difficulties that companies face protecting software by utility patent and the limitations on protecting GUI with trademark and copyright, design patents are becoming the "go-to" solution for safeguarding GUI from being copied or imitated.

In November 2023, the USPTO published supplemental guidance for determining whether a design claim including a computer-generated electronic image, including GUIs, is directed to statutory subject matter. This guidance provides clarification on meeting the article of manufacture requirement. Not every country provides protection for GUI designs, or if they do, the protection is limited. More importantly, with the advent of augmented reality and virtual reality, even countries that protect GUI are grappling with the challenges of protecting a GUI that is not projected on a traditional computer screen.

Listen as our authoritative panel of patent attorneys discusses best practices for protecting GUIs in the U.S. and globally, including an update on recent cases involving claims of infringement of design patents for GUI designs.

Outline

  1. A brief overview of U.S. design patents
  2. Current trends in user experience
  3. The legal context for GUI design protection in the U.S.
  4. Examples of U.S. GUI design patents
  5. Advantages of design patents over trademark and copyright in the U.S.
  6. Global protection strategy: obtaining design patent protection for GUIs outside the U.S.
  7. Enforcement of GUI design rights in the U.S. and abroad
  8. Protection of designs used in augmented reality and virtual reality

Benefits

The panel will review these and other critical issues:

  • Best practices for the protection of GUIs in the U.S. and globally
  • Update on recent cases involving claims of infringement of design patents for GUI designs
  • Protection for user interface designs of the future