Also known as: Geschmacksmusters · Geschmacksmustern · Geschmacksmusterrecht · Gemeinschaftsgeschmacksmuster · Design
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A form of industrial design protection under German law obtained by registration without substantive examination. The registration makes the design publicly available and qualifies the protected design as prior art in United States patent proceedings.
Global Dynamics sold a machine whose exterior design had been registered as a Geschmacksmuster in Germany. After a worker suffered an injury, the company registered an improved version of the same design. At trial the plaintiff sought to introduce the later registration to prove the original design was defective. The court excluded the evidence for that purpose under the subsequent remedial measures rule.
Galaxy Technologies manufactured a consumer device whose shape had been registered as a Geschmacksmuster. The design created a risk of cuts during ordinary use. A user injured by the device sued the manufacturer. The court held the company liable because it failed to exercise reasonable care in adopting a safe design before registering the Geschmacksmuster.
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Golden Gate Logistics registered a product configuration as a Geschmacksmuster in Germany and later obtained a U.S. design patent on the same configuration. A competitor copied the design after the German registration became public. The patent owner sued for infringement. The court dismissed the claim, holding that the earlier German registration placed the design in the public domain for purposes of U.S. design patent protection.
Gateway Bank filed a U.S. patent application claiming a method of creating ornamental patterns that had previously been registered as a Geschmacksmuster abroad. The examiner rejected the application as ineligible subject matter. On appeal the court affirmed, treating the foreign registration as evidence that the claimed method was an abstract idea already disclosed to the public.
Gideon Graves obtained a U.S. design patent on a product whose shape matched a prior Geschmacksmuster registration. In an infringement suit the parties disputed the scope of the patent claim. The court conducted a Markman hearing and construed the claim by reference to the earlier German registration as intrinsic evidence of the design's ordinary meaning.
Gavin Grant developed a manufacturing process and simultaneously registered the resulting product appearance as a Geschmacksmuster. A former employee disclosed the process to a competitor. The court held that the German registration destroyed trade secret protection for the appearance because the design had been placed in the public domain, even though the underlying process remained secret.
A Geschmacksmuster is obtained solely by registration without any substantive examination for novelty or nonobviousness. A U.S. design patent requires examination by the USPTO before issuance. Both protect ornamental appearance, but the German registration creates prior art once publicly available.
Yes. Because the registration is publicly available through the German office and the Federal Gazette, courts treat a Geschmacksmuster as a patented reference under 35 U.S.C. § 102 even though no examination occurred.
No. The German system grants protection upon filing and registration without examining whether the design is new or inventive. Public availability of the registration is what matters for its effect in other jurisdictions.
…rejected as was the bolting of the shank to the hinge plate. The Patent Office examiner found these to be “matters of design well within the expected skill of the art and devoid of invention.” Graham withdrew the original claims and substituted the two new ones which are substantially those in issue here. His…