design patent
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 81 U.S. 511 - Gorham Company v. White · 1871Most cited · 870 citing opinions
The thing invented or produced, for which a patent is given, is that which gives a peculiar or distinctive appearance to the manufacture, or article to which it may be applied, or to which it gives form.
How often courts cite the case defining “design patent”
Court decisions citing the opinion that defined “design patent” — 869 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining case as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.