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How Disney Qualified for Design Patent for Marvel's Captain America Shield
Fans of movies about fictional superheroes are probably familiar with Captain America and his miraculous shield. Recently, however, his shield showed up in a most unlikely place: the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
Captain America first appeared as a comic book character in 1940, and has since been valuable intellectual property of Marvel Comics, an operating unit of Marvel Entertainment. The Walt Disney Co. acquired Marvel Entertainment in 2009 for $4 billion. Like many entertainment content icons, Captain America's shield is also a valuable piece of intellectual property, and Disney is taking proper steps to protect it.
Intellectual properties are most often protected as patents, copyrights and trademarks. To protect the design of Captain America's shield, Disney chose to use design patent protection. U.S. Design Patent D819,750, appropriately named SHIELD, was recently granted and will run for the usual term of a design patent: 15 years. The patent includes drawings of the shield from multiple angles. As required by U.S. patent law, views are included to completely disclose the shield's appearance (front, rear, left, right, top, bottom). Perspective drawings, while not required, were also included to show the appearance and shape of the three-dimensional aspects of the design.
Why a Design Patent?
Design patents protect “any new, original and ornamental design for an article of manufacture,” 35 U.S.C. §171, in contrast to a utility patent that protects “any useful process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter,” 35 U.S.C. §101 (e.g., think mouse traps). Because the value of Captain America's shield lies in its appearance, Disney chose to apply for a design patent on a newly designed shield for Captain America.
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