§ 173. Term of design patent

Legislative history

Reconstructed from this section’s Code source credit and amendment notes, resolved against the local Statutes at Large. Editorial notes are evidence, not the law that made the change.

1. 1952

   July 19, 1952, ch. 950, 66 Stat. 805 · 66 Stat. 805

   Enacted · 35 U.S.C. § 173

   July 19, 1952, ch. 950, 66 Stat. 805

   Source evidence

   Code source credit
   July 19, 1952, ch. 950, 66 Stat. 805

2. 1982

   Pub. L. 97–247 § 16 · 96 Stat. 317

   Substituted · 35 U.S.C. § 173

   Pub. L. 97–247 substituted “Patents for designs shall be granted for the term of fourteen years” for “Patents for designs may be granted for the term of three years and six months, or for seven years, or for fourteen years, as the applicant, in his application, elects”

   Source evidence

   Code amendment note
   Pub. L. 97–247 substituted “Patents for designs shall be granted for the term of fourteen years” for “Patents for designs may be granted for the term of three years and six months, or for seven years, or for fourteen years, as the applicant, in his application, elects”.

   Enacted provision · exact public law section
   Sec. 16. Section 173 of title 35, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: “Patents for designs shall be granted for the term of fourteen years.”

3. 1994

   Pub. L. 103–465 title V § 532(c)(3) · 108 Stat. 4809

   Inserted · 35 U.S.C. § 173

   Pub. L. 103–465 inserted “from the date of grant” after “years”

   Source evidence

   Code amendment note
   Pub. L. 103–465 inserted “from the date of grant” after “years”.

   Enacted provision · exact public law section
   (3) Section 173 of title 35, United States Code, is amended by inserting “from the date of grant” after “years”.

4. 2012

   Patent Law Treaties Implementation Act of 2012

   Pub. L. 112–211 title I § 102(7) · 126 Stat. 1527

   Substituted · 35 U.S.C. § 173

   Pub. L. 112–211 substituted “15 years” for “fourteen years”

   Source evidence

   Code amendment note
   Pub. L. 112–211 substituted “15 years” for “fourteen years”.

   Enacted provision · exact public law section
   (7) in section 173, by striking “fourteen years” and inserting “15 years”;

   Effective date note
   Amendment by Pub. L. 112–211 effective on the later of the date that is 1 year after Dec. 18, 2012, or the date that the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs enters into force with respect to the United States (May 13, 2015), and applicable only to certain applications filed on and after that effective date and patents issuing thereon, see section 103 of Pub. L. 112–211, set out as a note under section 100 of this title.

3 of 4 references resolved to an enrolled provision · 1 partial