Research On The Design Paten Protection For Graphical User Interface

In addition to the excellent performance and styling, the graphical user interface has become an important factor for consumers to buy modern electronic products. The "Guidelines for Patent Examination" revised in year 2014 has been incorporated the graphical user interface into patent protection of interface design.This article is divided into three chapters. The first chapter mainly introduces a graphical user interface, with a simple definition of the graphical user interface, which elaborating the necessity and importance of using "Patent Law" to protect graphical user interface design.The second chapter mainly introduces the legislative reasons and outstanding features of protecting the graphical user interface design in the United States, European Union, Japan and etc.. Currently, a comprehensive and detailed protection mechanisms have been provided to the graphical user interface in the United States, Europe and Japan. The United States which takes judge-made law, through a number of key cases, improves the development of the graphical user interface design. In European Union, it has made clear the graphical interface as protectableobject. In Japan, strict condition set-up has been adopted to the graphical user interface, with narrow protection scope. Meanwhile, this article also provides detailed instances on the differences of application elements,rights and protection scopes in the United States, Europe and Japan respectively.The third chapter mainly elaborates that the graphical user interface has formally launched the implementation of the appearance patent protection in China. "Guidelines for Patent Examination" issued in year2014, has specified from three aspects for the graphical user interface.Compared with the determining standards in the United States, Europe and Japan, our country is in an intermediate status, not as strict as in Japan, nor as loose as in the United States, the European Union. This article lists three common instances of application for graphical user interface. Finally, this article suggests the interface design protection for graphical user interface, i.e., 1) to open partial design to improve interface design protection system; and 2) to release the restrictions of product names and to expand protection scope of graphical user interface.