Federal Circuit Declines to Include Aesthetic Appeal as a Design Function That Invalidates a Design Patent

Design patents protect the ornamental features of an item, rather than the functional features that may be protected by other means, such as utility patents. However, the aesthetic appeal that the item provides to the overall end product does not make that design functional, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in its recent decision in Automotive Body Parts Assn. v. Ford Global Technologies, LLC, Case No. 2018-1613 (Fed. Cir. July 23, 2019).