Consideration of Absolute Dimensions and Relative Proportional Relationships in Design Patent Comparison
Recently, the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People's Court concluded a second-instance administrative appeal concerning the invalidation of a design patent, clarifying that the publication text of a design patent generally does not record or define specific length-width-height measurements. Therefore, it is typically not possible to compare the absolute values of length, width, and height between the patent at issue and the comparative design. However, where the drawings or photographs of a design patent reflect the relative proportions among different parts of the design, such proportional relationships may serve as the basis for identifying similarities or differences between the patent at issue and the comparative design.