---
kind: "section"
citation: "17 U.S.C. § 1302"
title: "17"
title_heading: "Copyrights"
number: "1302"
heading: "Designs not subject to protection"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/17/1302"
units:
  - "Chapter 13 — Protection of Original Designs"
---

# §1302. Designs not subject to protection


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)](#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.

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 105–304, title V, § 502, Oct. 28, 1998, 112 Stat. 2906; amended Pub. L. 106–44, § 1(f)(1), Aug. 5, 1999, 113 Stat. 222.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

1999—Par. (5). Pub. L. 106–44 substituted “2 years” for “1 year”.