Patent Tip of the Day

A design patent application cannot claim benefit of a provisional utility patent application. It is important to let clients know at the time of filing of a provisional application that they cannot later file a design application that claims the benefit of the provisional application. A non-provisional utility patent application, however, can claim benefit of a design application, and vice versa. If a utility application is rejected and the client desperately needs a patent, always look at the possibility of filing a design application by claiming benefit of the non-provisional utility application. Make sure that the drawings of the design application are supported by the non-provisional application so that the claim of priority is valid.