# If I make furniture inspired by another designer, do I face any real problems? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 24, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-make-furniture-inspired-by-another-designer-do-i-face-any-real-problems/497490 "2009-05-24T20:00:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TheMadHun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@TheMadHun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMadHun)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-make-furniture-inspired-by-another-designer-do-i-face-any-real-problems/497490/1 "2009-05-24T20:00:59Z")
I happened to spot a funny quirky table in a book of coffee tables. I would like to make one like it. That’s clearly allowed. Would it matter if I made more and sold them? To get concrete about it, the $3,000 table has a simple conceit - it’s supported by rope, a naturally flexible material, that has been hardened with resin. Clearly as a shop project it could be made for perhaps $200 materials. Here’s the picture [http://tinyurl.com/r2z939](http://tinyurl.com/r2z939) Since I’ve never made one it’s pure pipe dream, and I probably would find myself glued to my garage walls and floor awaiting rescue by firemen with Jaws-of-Life machines. But if it did work and I could make a few and find buyers, how far from his basic design would I have to go? Of course I wouldn’t want to make a slavish imitation or try to use his name in my marketing. And the concept of “stiffened rope supporting a glass top” is really already common in Mexican patio furniture. It just looks more like a conventional rattan or wicker table. ---
**Author:** ![TheMadHun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@TheMadHun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMadHun)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2009, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-make-furniture-inspired-by-another-designer-do-i-face-any-real-problems/497490/2 "2009-05-24T22:23:23Z")
Curiously enough I just ran across a similarly themed lamp This one has a stated price of $940. It’s a simple Erlenmeyer flask from a chemistry lab, with a stiff wire visible inside, and a shade that could have come from any IKEA or lighting store. [![](https://tinypic.com/images/goodbye.jpg) ](https://tinypic.com/images/goodbye.jpg) Again, I think it would be a fun project, quite doable this time, and lending itself to many variations. ---
**Author:** ![Varrius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e9a140/32.png) [@Varrius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Varrius)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-make-furniture-inspired-by-another-designer-do-i-face-any-real-problems/497490/3 "2009-05-25T01:14:16Z")
> [@TheMadHun](#): > > But if it did work and I could make a few and find buyers, how far from his > basic design would I have to go? IANAL, but I think it would depend on whether or not the designer has patented or otherwise trademarked the design. I recall seeing a plant hanging device that was made from bent ash. This was at a local craft fair. The booth had a sign advising people that the design was patented, so I think you could make one for yourself, but you couldn’t try to sell them. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-make-furniture-inspired-by-another-designer-do-i-face-any-real-problems/497490/4 "2009-05-25T02:06:45Z")
No design or utility patent is listed for Josh (or Joshua) Urso at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Under U.S. patent law, design patent protection commences when the patent is issued, and there are no provisional rights until then. A design patent lasts 14 years after it is issued. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-make-furniture-inspired-by-another-designer-do-i-face-any-real-problems/497490/5 "2009-05-25T02:19:08Z")
U.S. Patent Act §102(b) provides that the patent must be denied if “the invention was … in public use or on sale in this country, more than one year prior to the date of the application for patent in the United States.” ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-make-furniture-inspired-by-another-designer-do-i-face-any-real-problems/497490/6 "2009-05-25T02:32:58Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > No design or utility patent is listed for Josh (or Joshua) Urso at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Under U.S. patent law, design patent protection commences when the patent is issued, and there are no provisional rights until then. A design patent lasts 14 years after it is issued. Additionally, aren’t design patents pretty specific? They’re not broad enough to indicate exclusive rights on glass supported by rope. The color, thickness, and placement would all have to be specified as well. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-make-furniture-inspired-by-another-designer-do-i-face-any-real-problems/497490/7 "2009-05-25T02:42:10Z")
Pretty much, yes. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-make-furniture-inspired-by-another-designer-do-i-face-any-real-problems/497490/8 "2009-05-25T02:49:28Z")
Back in my retail days in the Suburban MD area in the early 80’s I had a good customer who worked for an office furniture manufacturer, and he made no bones about the fact that his R&D dept consisted of Polaroid camera that copied the best designs of his competitors and made them at a lesser cost. Unless it’s a real specific design element I don’t think you can patent artistic designs or they would have had their asses sued off. Re the table it looks neat but I imagine the web of ropes would be a dust magnet and a nightmare to clean. Plus a vacuum might beat the crap of it. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-make-furniture-inspired-by-another-designer-do-i-face-any-real-problems/497490/9 "2009-05-25T03:09:19Z")
Since the design inventor has no provisional rights until the design patent is issued, and the inventor can apply for the patent up to a year after he begins selling it, and the patent application process generally takes 18 months — I recommend that if you manufacture and sell copies of that table, check the [patent database](http://patft.uspto.gov/) at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for “Josh Urso” and “Joshua Urso” on a periodic basis up to two and a half years from when you first knew the item to be on sale, to see if a design patent issues. If a design patent issues, stop manufacturing and selling it. ---
**Author:** ![TheMadHun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@TheMadHun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMadHun)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-make-furniture-inspired-by-another-designer-do-i-face-any-real-problems/497490/10 "2009-05-25T16:29:34Z")
Thanks. I never knew design patents could be searched so readily. I suppose if I go through the application discussion I can tell just how much protection is afforded and how close it applies to similar items ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-make-furniture-inspired-by-another-designer-do-i-face-any-real-problems/497490/11 "2009-05-25T17:56:10Z")
The U.S. Supreme Court’s standard for infringement of a design patent: > [@](#): > > If, in the eye of an ordinary observer, giving such attention as a purchaser usually gives, two designs are substantially the same, if the resemblance is such as to deceive such an observer, inducing him to purchase one supposing it to be the other, the first one patented is infringed by the other. _Gorham Manufacturing Co. v. White_, 81 U.S. 511 (1872).