HThoroughly protecting the intellectual property rights of new products is a common concern for companies. Many of these new products involve the use of a graphical user interface (GUI). In general, a GUI is a method of presenting interfaces used for human-computer interaction and information display.
However, patent examination standards prior to 2014 explicitly excluded from patent protection graphic patterns that appear only at power-on. Therefore, the protection given to GUI intellectual property rights at the time primarily extended to copyright.
With the proliferation and evolution of computer technology, especially the development of smart device apps, the role of GUIs becomes more and more important, and there is a need for better protection of computer GUIs. China’s patent examination standards were revised in 2014, and GUIs for electronic products were included in the protection scope of design patents. Nevertheless, there are notable differences between GUI and regular design.
This article describes GUI protection from a practical perspective and provides businesses with a clear and practical reference for protecting their intellectual property rights.
Patent or copyright?
While copyright enjoys a longer term of protection, design patents provide stronger evidence of title in defense and are more enforceable in practice. In contrast, establishing copyright lacks mandatory administrative review and publication procedures, while imposing a higher burden of proof regarding the basis of rights when enforcing copyright.
Considering that GUIs tend to enter and exit the market fairly quickly, the 15-year protection period for design patents may provide sufficient protection. Applicants can consider applying for design patent protection prior to publishing a GUI while preserving copyright-related evidence or seeking copyright registration. During the 15-year protection period of a design patent, filing a design patent will allow him to defend his GUI intellectual property rights more smoothly, but even after the protection period of a design patent ends, the You can use the copyright route depending on your needs.
Establishment of design patent
When GUIs first came under the scope of design patent protection, they were often filed together with carrier products (such as computer displays or mobile phones). Subsequently, as the China National Intellectual Property Office’s views regarding the protection of GUI designs evolved over time, the revised Patent Law introduced the concept of “partial design,” further expanding the possibilities for GUI-related intellectual property protection. Ta. Design patent.
Currently, applicants can file patents for GUIs as either complete designs or partial designs. If there is a design innovation in both the GUI and the physical product to which it is applied, the GUI and the product can be applied together.
If the design innovation relates only to the GUI itself, but the applicant seeks protection as an overall design patent, at least a front projection view of the product to which the GUI applies must be provided. If the innovation is only in her GUI design, the authors suggest filing a partial design patent.
Patent infringement rules
In the early days when GUIs were protected by design patents, there were no rules to refer to, so courts still adopted general rules for design infringement. As mentioned above, GUI design patents originally included both the GUI and the product to which it applied. Therefore, the court will also consider the characteristics of the physical product at the time.
For example, in China’s first GUI design patent infringement case brought by Qihu Technology and Qizhi Software (Beijing) against Jiangmin New Science Technology, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court stated in late 2017 that computers with GUIs The lawsuit limited the scope of patent protection and dismissed the plaintiff’s claims. This court decision significantly narrowed the scope and weakened the protection of GUI design patents.
As the rules for GUI design protection have become increasingly refined, courts have gradually adopted a more flexible approach and developed a set of rules appropriate to the characteristics of GUI design patents.
in King Soft v Mengjia Regarding the GUI design infringement of the input method editor, the Shanghai High People’s Court upheld the first instance judgment of the Shanghai Intellectual Property Court in 2022.
In this case, the court focused on the comparison between the allegedly infringing GUI and the lawsuit’s patented GUI in terms of its overall design and dynamic modification process, and also determined that there was no overall relationship between the two. We focused on whether there are significant differences in visual effects. . However, the comparison excludes the appearance of the phone, which as a normal design does not have a significant impact on the overall design.
This means that in current judicial practice, when a design element relates to the GUI itself, the scope of patentability is primarily for the graphically represented GUI design, and the scope of protection is the same for physical products or other products. or similar fields. GUI interaction design and functionality are achieved in the same way.
The GUI is the window of interaction between businesses and consumers, and therefore a differentiated GUI design is one of the key aspects that distinguishes businesses from their competitors. In addition to traditional copyright protection, considering the novelty requirements of GUI design, enterprises should apply for design patent protection before launching the related interactive interface to ensure comprehensive protection of GUI intellectual property rights. must be achieved.
Frank Liu is a partner and Ding Xiaodi is a senior associate at Shanghai Pacific Law Firm
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