Recognize the design below? Unless you're a hermit, chances are pretty good that you do. Apple's iPod is simple and fun to use. Perhaps just as important for many of us is the iPod's design; it's sleek and stylish. And, that design is patented. Surprised? If you are, chances are pretty good that your company should be thinking more seriously about protecting the designs of your products.

In prior columns I've talked quite a bit about what we typically call patents—“utility patents.” These are patents that protect how things work. But there's another important type of patent called a “design patent.” It protects the “ornamental” nature of a product—in other words, how the product looks, as opposed to how it works.

Because of the significance of a product's aesthetic appeal to a consumer's purchasing decision, a design patent can be a very important weapon to have in your arsenal to prevent others from copying that same aesthetic look in their own products.

Much of the strategy in protecting designs through patents comes from choosing the particular design features to protect, and those to ignore. Counter-intuitively, a design patent that focuses on a narrow feature can be far more valuable than one that includes the entire look of the product.

Also, make sure to file far enough in advance of product launch so you can immediately enforce the patents when the products hit the shelves. Design patents are well-suited for this strategy because they can be obtained in far less time than utility patents, often only 6 to 12 months from filing. Design patents, also, are usually far less expensive to obtain than utility patents.

Because of these upsides, consider filing for a series of patents to protect various aspects of the designs of your products.

What types of things can you get a design patent on? Just about any design that is new and “non-obvious” (the required legal jargon from the Patent Office). Just a few examples of design patents out there include model cars, dolls, stuffed animals, game boards, video game consoles and even graphical elements from computer or video games.

So here's the bottom line: don't overlook your products' visual appeal, and certainly don't skimp on your ability to protect that distinctive look with design patents. Chances are pretty good that the bad guys won't miss that appeal when designing their own products.