Professor Mark McKenna Publishes Article on Progress and Competition in Design

Professor Mark McKenna (with Katherine Strandburg), has recently published, Progress and Competition in Design, Stanford Technology Law Review, Vol. 17, (2013). This article argues that applying patent-like doctrine to design makes sense only if a design patent system is premised on a patent-like conception of cumulative progress that permits patent examiners and courts to assess whether a novel design reflects a nonobvious step beyond the prior art. If there is a meaningful way to speak of such an inventive step in design, then design patent doctrine should be based on that conception. If nonobviousness has no sensible meaning in design, then a patent system cannot work for design. Read article