DESIGN PATENTS ARE BECOMING THE NEW NUCLEAR WARHEADS OF AMAZON SELLERS

It now takes at least 1-2 years to get a Design patent approved, due in large part to the large increase in filings by Amazon sellers. And they are being used with much greater aggression than in the past.

The reason for this is simple. Design patents are vigorously enforced by Amazon, and there are almost no defenses that an alleged infringer can use to defend himself/herself, short of having a Design patent of his/her own. For example, patent invalidity (even in very clear cases) is not accepted by Amazon.

This is why I would compare Design patents in modern Amazon sales to nuclear warheads in warfare. You never want to be the company that does not have them. I would never launch a new product without filing a Design patent to protect it, even if you are filing it as a PURELY DEFENSIVE measure, and have no intention of ever asserting it against others. And if you are more aggressive, I would advise getting at least one, maybe even more, to thoroughly cover your product, in which case you can attempt to completely corner the market for that product on Amazon. You can aggressively send take down notices, and leave it up to the competition to try to defend themselves, or simply exit that market.

If you are selling on Amazon, or any form of e-commerce, I would recommend very highly that you consider protecting your product with a Design patent before product launch. And if you would like to try to lock up your entire market, work with a patent attorney to file multiple Design patents on your product, to completely exclude competition.