Utility vs Design Patents: Which Do You Need

Utility and design patents protect completely different things, yet businesses constantly file for the wrong one and waste months as a result.

A utility patent protects how something functions. A design patent protects how it looks. Many products actually benefit from having both, but you need to know which one covers your actual advantage.

Utility patents

• Protect function, method or composition
• Last 20 years from filing
• Take longer to examine
• Are the workhorse of tech and manufacturing

Design patents

• Protect ornamental appearance only
• Last 15 years from grant
• Are faster and cheaper to obtain
• Work well for consumer products and packaging

If competitors can copy your product’s function, file a utility patent; if the visual design is what sells it, file a design patent, and consider both when the product has both a functional and an aesthetic edge.

A common strategy

Many products file both a utility patent for function and a design patent for appearance, covering the full advantage.

• Utility for how it works
• Design for how it looks
• Both when the product has both