New USPTO Guidance Provides Broader Flexibility for Computer-Generated Designs

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On March 12, 2026, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published new examination guidance for design patents related to computer-generated interfaces and icons in response to feedback on past guidance that stakeholders believed unnecessarily limited design applications.[1] Comments on the new guidelines must be submitted by May 12, 2026. While the new guidance is not substantive rulemaking, the USPTO has instructed all USPTO personnel, including the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), to follow this guidance even if it is inconsistent with previous guidance.

Previously, to protect new, original and ornamental designs for an article of manufacture (i.e., a tangible article such as a computer) under 35 USC § 171, the USPTO required a claimed design be applied to or embodied in a particular article of manufacture. That is, a design or picture standing alone would not be considered patent eligible under 35 USC § 171. However, “computer-generated interfaces have advanced beyond their display on traditional computer display screens or monitors,” particularly as it relates to projections, holograms and virtual (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Continued stakeholder feedback on past guidelines received by the USPTO indicated that previous design patent practice lagged behind the continued modernization of technology.

Upon review of this feedback, the USPTO issued updated guidance “in an effort to expand the understanding of design protection in light of advancements in technology.” The new guidelines apply to all design patent applications irrespective of their filing date, and include a number of practical changes as follows:

(a)    Clarifying eligible subject matter: Any computer-generated interface or icon that complies with the rules and statutory requirements consistent with this new guidance is patent eligible subject matter under 35 USC § 171 as the design of the interface or icon is considered to be more than a transient or disembodied picture or three-dimensional image.

(b)   Removing the display panel requirement: MPEP 1504.01(a) previously instructed examiners to reject a drawing that did not depict a display panel, or portion thereof, in either solid or broken lines. Applicants are no longer required to depict a display panel so long as the title and claim properly identify the article of manufacture, e.g., a computer or a computer display panel. Depicting the display panel, for example, with broken lines surrounding the computer-generated icon, is now optional.

(c)    Clarifying claim and title language: Claims that indicate that a design is “for” a display panel, a computer, or a computer system are now considered to adequately identify an article of manufacture.

(d)   Broadening patent eligible designs based on new design formats and technologies: Designs of computer-generated interfaces and icons that are not displayed on a conventional computer display are now also considered patent eligible. That is, additional types of patent eligible designs, such as projections, holograms, VR and AR, can be protected even if the interface or icon is separate from the computer that generates such a design.

Additionally, the USPTO has provided numerous compliant and non-compliant examples to illustrate the broader range of designs now eligible under these new guidelines. Overall, while still placing emphasis on ensuring that design applications provide clear written descriptions and drawings of the claimed design, the updated guidance provides greater flexibility to applicants seeking design patents for modern digital technologies.