By Liza Porteus Viana for Intellectual Property Watch
The United States Patent and Trademark Office is meeting with industry groups and intellectual property experts to determine how to strike just the right balance on industrial design protection in the United States.

In the US, design patents can protect the ornamental appearance of manufactured items such as cars. These differ from utility patents, which provide protection for the innovative, functional aspects of a product as embodied in the structure or operation of the product. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) often spend millions, if not billions, of dollars creating unique and distinctive designs for their products, whether they be strollers, mobile phones, household appliances or clothing.

But recent moves by the European Union in loosening patent protection for car repair parts, specifically, has gotten some attention in the United States, as has a legislative bill sponsored by Representative Zoe Lofgren (Democrat, California). So the USPTO wants to round up ideas and opinions on market effects of such actions, particularly when this country has seen an “incremental increase in design applications” being filed – about 5,000 more in 2007 than in 2003.