Copyright Law of the United States of America and Related Laws Contained in Title 17 of the United States Code, Circular 92 · United States
Section 1302. Designs not subject to protection [3]
Protection under this chapter shall not be available for a design that is- (1) not original; (2) staple or commonplace, such as a standard geometric figure, a familiar symbol, an emblem, or a motif, or another shape, pattern, or configuration which has become standard, common, prevalent, or ordinary; (3) different from a design excluded by paragraph (2) only in insignificant details or in elements which are variants commonly used in the relevant trades; (4) dictated solely by a utilitarian function of the article that embodies it; or (5) embodied in a useful article that was made public by the designer or owner in the United States or a foreign country more than 2 years before the date of the application for registration under this chapter. Protection for a design under this chapter shall be available notwithstanding the employment in the design of subject matter excluded from protection under section 1302 if the design is a substantial revision, adaptation, or rearrangement of such subject matter. Such protection shall be independent of any subsisting protection in subject matter employed in the design, and shall not be construed as securing any right to subject matter excluded from protection under this chapter or as extending any subsisting protection under this chapter. The protection provided for a design under this chapter shall commence upon the earlier of the date of publication of the registration under section 1313(a) or the date the design is first made public as defined by section 1310(b).
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.