A year after asking for public comment on changes at the USPTO, the agency announced that it will have a separate bar for design patent practitioners. This change becomes effective on January 2. According to the order, those admitted to the new bar would only be permitted to appear in design patent proceedings.
Finnegan partner Beth Ferrill told the Daily Journal that “the design patent bar seems like a promising way to expand the patent bar to include professionals with academic design backgrounds.”
However, she said she was concerned that the Patent and Trademark Office did not include standardized explanatory language about this limited designation and what design patent practitioners are qualified to do.
“The general public is already confused about the patenting process and this additional design bar may create more confusion,” she said.
