Title 17, CopyrightsRelease 119-102
§1302 Designs Not Subject to Protection
Title 17 › CHAPTER 13 — PROTECTION OF ORIGINAL DESIGNS › § 1302
Summary
The law does not protect a design if it is not original; is staple or commonplace (like basic shapes, familiar symbols, emblems, motifs, or other ordinary patterns); differs only by small details or common trade variations; or is driven only by how the item works. A design also gets no protection if the designer or owner made the useful article public in the United States or in a foreign country more than 2 years before the date of the application for registration.
Full Legal Text
Title 17, §1302
Copyrights, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Protection under this chapter shall not be available for a design that is—
(1)not original;
(2)staple or commonplace, such as a standard geometric figure, a familiar symbol, an emblem, or a motif, or another shape, pattern, or configuration which has become standard, common, prevalent, or ordinary;
(3)different from a design excluded by paragraph (2) only in insignificant details or in elements which are variants commonly used in the relevant trades;
(4)dictated solely by a utilitarian function of the article that embodies it; or
(5)embodied in a useful article that was made public by the designer or owner in the United States or a foreign country more than 2 years before the date of the application for registration under this chapter.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Amendments
1999—Par. (5). Pub. L. 106–44 substituted “2 years” for “1 year”.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
17 U.S.C. § 1302
Title 17, Copyrights
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102