This is the second meeting in a listening tour to seek the perspectives of parties concerned with issues related to the protection of industrial designs.

The USPTO’s listening tour kicked off on May 6, 2008 with meeting in Dearborn, Mich., that included representatives from major automobile manufacturers and associations.

The June 16 town hall meeting is open to members of the public, consumer groups, insurance companies, independent parts manufacturers, members of the business community, patent agents and attorneys, independent inventors or anyone else interested in the protection of industrial designs.

“The goal of this listening tour is to hear all perspectives on issues surrounding industrial design protection so the USPTO can evaluate and assess what policies are best for our intellectual property system,” Deputy Under-Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the USPTO Margaret Peterlin said.

“To date, this dialogue has been informative. We look forward to hearing the input of anyone with an interest in design protection,” she added.

In the United States, design patents can protect the ornamental appearance of articles of manufacture such as automobiles. Like the automobile industry, manufacturers of consumer products from high technology mobile phones to strollers and infant carriers rely heavily upon Intellectual Property (IP) protection as an important tool to ensure these companies see a return on their significant investment in design and product development.

Legislation has been introduced that would amend title 35 of the United States Code to create an exception from infringement for certain component parts used to repair another article.

This legislation is not limited to repair of vehicles, and would apply equally to other consumer products such as coffee makers, drill bits for drills, and other machine parts.