A design patent is a patent granted on the ornamental design of a functional item. They confer a type of industrial design right. An example would be a computer icons. I don't actually know what the term for a design patent would be in Hebrew - hence the reason for the low confidence level.


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Note added at 27 mins (2010-01-26 19:33:19 GMT)
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Sorry: typos. Can't translate and do Kudoz at the same time - but one can only try! The above should say "It confers". And "An example would be a computer icon."

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Note added at 29 mins (2010-01-26 19:35:11 GMT)
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See also http://inventors.about.com/od/definations/ss/design_patent.h... just in case it is a utility patent - but the context does not suggest this.

From the link: New inventions can be registered and granted patents restricting others from using the inventions without permission from the inventor. Like copyrights, patents last for a limited period of time, after which the inventions covered by them enter the public domain and can be used by anyone.

http://www.patentdocs.net/invention-attorneys/