Oh, patents! Vintage Gucci® bag (3)

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The vintage Gucci® Dionysus bag is a patented design. The US design patent, USD798046S, titled, Handbag, was awarded to Alessandro Michel on  September 26, 2017, and assigned to  Guccio Gucci S.p.A., in  Florence, Italy. 

The below patent Figure 1 depicts a front perspective view of the inventive design.  The chain appears with a symbolic break to indicate that the patent does not cover any part that might appear between the break, considering that the chain might slide as a single shoulder strap or double-up as a handle. 

The small emerald-green marketed Gucci® Dionysus bag, shown next to the patent Figure 1, is made of pebbled calfskin leather. The shoulder strap drop is 14.75 inches. The handle drop is 8.5 inches. The two-tone palladium-and-gold hardware, with inlaid green crystals, depicts the “twice-born” Greek God of wine Dionysus.  

Reference

Gucci® (website)
https://www.gucci.com/

Oh, patents! Vintage Gucci® bag (2)

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The vintage Gucci® Padlock bag is a patented design. The US design patent, USD772564S, titled, Handbag, was awarded to Alessandro Michel on November 29, 2016, and assigned to Guccio Gucci S.p.A., in Florence, Italy.

The below patent Figure 1 depicts a front perspective view of the inventive design. The chain appears symbolically sectioned to indicate that the patent does not cover any part that might appear above the break, considering that the chain might slide as a single shoulder strap or double-up as a handle. 

The marketed Gucci® Padlock bag shown below the patent Figure 1, is made of black calfskin. The shoulder strap drop is 18.75 inches, the handle drop is 11.25 inches.

Reference

Gucci® (website)
https://www.gucci.com/

Oh, patents! Vintage Gucci® bag (1)

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Founded in 1921 by Guccio Gucci in Florence, Italy, as a luggage and leather accessory store, Guccio Gucci S.p.A., backed by foreign investment, now operates 635 luxury stores worldwide, employing 20,000 employees, selling ready-to-wear apparel, footwear, handbags, furnishings, and perfume, with an annual revenue of 7.65 billion euros (in 2024). Rocked by internal feuds and scandals, fictionalized in the Hollywood motion picture House of Gucci, starring Lady Gaga, the prestigious luxury brand endures, with more than 1000 design patents awarded and assigned.

The following US design patent*, USD770175S, titled Handbag, was awarded to Alessandro Michele, on November 1, 2016, and assigned to Guccio Gucci S.p.A. in Florence, Italy. The patented design was marketed as the Gucci® Animalier Tiger flap purse.

 

Below, the patent figure 1 depicts a front perspective view of the handbag, together with an image of a marketed embodiment. The marketed product is crafted in black leather, with dramatic antique gold-tone tiger-head hardware.

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Note
As a reminder, a US design patent protects the ornamental aspects of an invention, or what the inventive design looks like. US design patents are different from US utility patents, which protect how an invention works or is manufactured.

References
Gucci® (website)
https://www.gucci.com/
House of Gucci (trailer). Director: Ridley Scott, 158 minutes, 2021.
https://youtu.be/pGi3Bgn7U5U?si=Us7CiRtFcQsWfOpK

Oh, patents! Starbucks® chewing gum tins

 Françoise © Herrmann

Starbucks® chewing gum tins were awarded the design patent USD471804, titled Chewing gum tin, on March 18, 2003.  No longer marketed, no wonder the small (1¼" x ¾" x 3⅛"), vintage, after coffee chewing gum tins have become a collector’s item on eBay, retailing for 50$ a piece, or more.

As a reminder a design patent covers the ornamental aspects of an invention, or how the invention looks. In contrast, a utility patent covers the functional and manufacturing aspects of an invention, or how the invention works (MPEP Chapt. 1502.01). 

Below, three of the patent drawings, depicting a front perspective view of the chewing gum tin design (Fig. 1), a back perspective view (Fig.2), and a front perspective view with the lid open (Fig. 3). Below the patent figure drawings of the Starbucks® chewing gum tin, an image of two, vintage, Starbucks® after coffee, chewing gum tins, respectively peppermint and cinnamon.  

References

Starbucks® Coffee Company https://www.starbucks.com/

USPTO MPEP – Chapt. 1502-01 – Distinction between design and utility patent.
https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s1502.html

Oh, patents! Longchamp® (5) Le Pliage (vintage)

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Some of the Longchamp® Le Pliage models are already vintage. For example, the model included below with vertical zippers, allowing the handbag to expand with color-contrasting gussets, is vintage. It was granted the US design patent USD495486S1, titled Handbag.

As a reminder:

“a utility patent” protects the way an article is used and works (35 U.S.C. 101), while a “design patent” protects the way an article looks (35 U.S.C. 171) [MPEP Chapt. 1502.01; [R-07.2015]]. 

Figures 2 and 7, extracted from the patent, show the vintage Longchamp® Le Pliage, top-handle handbag, respectively zipped and unzipped. Also included, the image of a previously marketed model, in tan, with contrasting white gussets. 

References

Lonchamp®

https://us.longchamp.com/

MPEP – Chapt. 1502-01 – Distinction between design and utility patent

https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s1502.html