Design Patent Search Guides
Before you launch a product, sell on a marketplace, or manufacture overseas, it pays to know whether a design patent already protects a similar look. This library of free guides explains how to search design patents in the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom — by keyword and by image.
What is a design patent?
A design patent protects the ornamental appearance of a product — its distinctive shape, surface pattern, or visual look — rather than how it functions. In the US these are granted by the USPTO; in the European Union and the UK they are registered as industrial designs with the EUIPO and UKIPO respectively.
Featured guides
- Design Patent Search: A Complete Guide — the fundamentals of searching by text and by image, and how to interpret results.
- US Design Patent Search — how to search USPTO design patents.
- EU Design Patent Search (EUIPO) — searching Registered Community Designs.
- UK Design Patent Search (UKIPO) — searching UK registered designs.
- Reverse Image Search for Design Patents — find visually similar designs from a product photo.
- Design Patent Image Search by Picture — practical tips for searching by photo or drawing.
- Design Patent Infringement Check — check before you sell to reduce risk.
- Locarno Classification Explained — how products are classified in design search.
- Amazon Design Patents & IP Protection — protect and vet listings for marketplace sellers.
- Design Patent vs Utility Patent — understand what each patent type protects and how the searches differ.
- How Long Do Design Patents Last? — compare US, EU and UK design protection terms.
- Check a Product Before Selling — a practical pre-launch infringement screening checklist.
- Design Patent Drawings: How to Read Them — solid lines, broken lines and what the drawings actually protect.
- Design Patent Infringement: The Ordinary Observer Test — the US standard courts use to judge design patent infringement.
- Unregistered Design Rights: EU and UK Compared — automatic, short-lived rights that never appear in a register.
- Where to Search Designs: DesignView, WIPO GDD and Registers — compare EUIPO DesignView, WIPO's Global Design Database and national registers.
- Amazon Design Patent Complaint: What to Do Next — what to do when a design patent complaint removes your listing.
- Phone Case Design Patents — why phone cases attract so many filings, and which classifications to search.
- Earbuds & Headphone Case Design Patents — searching the earpiece and its case separately.
- Water Bottle & Tumbler Design Patents — how drinkware splits across classification systems.
Searching by image
Keyword search misses designs that look like your product but were described differently. That is why image-based search is so powerful: you upload a photo or render of your product and the system returns registered designs that are visually similar, even across US, EU and UK databases at once.