Search for design patents from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Global Design Patent Database, which has 1,730,000 industrial designs.
WIPO offers five different ways to search for design patents. Click on “Design” and three different fields will appear with a drop-down icon. The icon opens a small list (marked with a box). The first field, Indication of product, allows you to enter keywords, product names, etc. to search for design patents. Design patents are divided into different classes. The Locarno Classification is considered the CPC for design patents in the International Classification of Industrial Designs. Users can access the Locarno Classification from here and the drop-down icon allows changing the classification.
Also, users do not have to visit the classification link provided above to check which class a design patent may belong to. There is an icon next to the field (circled), after clicking it, enter the description of the design patent you want to search for and then click the search icon. A table will open below the box to select the code from it. Click on the highlighted area to add the class to the search field.
The Description field allows users to search for keywords, phrases in the description of the design patent. Click on the Name tab. In the Holder column, you can enter the name of the assignee, the name of the designer (or inventor of the patent) can be filled in the Creator column, and the Representative is the name of the law firm or lawyer involved in the search. This option can help narrow the search scope.
The Numbers tab helps users search for design patents or design patent applications by number. The Dates tab is used to select a date range, and the Country tab is used to select holders in a specific country to focus the search.
Users can eliminate the risk of patent infringement through the above patent search for products that need to be developed, and can also know the relevant patents in the relevant product industry.
Patents recognize and reward inventors for commercial success. This can motivate inventors to invent. Inventors or companies know through the patent system that they will get a return on the time, effort and money invested in developing technology. For cross-border e-commerce sellers, the main benefit of patents is the right to prevent competitors from selling the same product, thereby making the company the only supplier of the product. According to the law of supply and demand, reducing supply can increase prices. If sales are strong, then the patent is definitely worth it.