How to check a product for design patents before you sell it

Updated 30 October 2026 · About 8 minutes · General information, not legal advice

Short answer. Search the design registers of every market you will sell in: the USPTO for the US, CNIPA for China, the EUIPO for the EU, and WIPO's database for international designs. Search by product class and several names for the product, and read the drawings rather than the titles. Then compare the closest live designs with your product as a whole, the way an ordinary buyer would see them, and keep a dated record. Do this before you pay for tooling. A search lowers the risk, but it cannot prove you are free to sell, because some designs are not published yet.

Why design patents catch sellers

A design patent (a registered design in the EU) protects how a product looks: its shape, its surface pattern, or both. Copying does not have to be proven. In the US the question is whether an ordinary observer who knows the earlier designs would take your product for the patented one (Egyptian Goddess v. Swisa, 2008). China and the EU ask a similar question about the overall impression on a general consumer or an informed user.

These facts make it a seller's problem, not only a manufacturer's:

Selling is enough. In the US, making, using, offering to sell, selling or importing a patented design all infringe (35 U.S.C. 271(a)). In China, making the product for business purposes infringes a Chinese design patent, even if every unit is exported (Patent Law Art. 11).
Damages can be the whole profit. A US design-patent infringer can be liable for its total profit on the article of manufacture (35 U.S.C. 289). In Samsung v. Apple (2016) the Supreme Court held that the article can be a component instead of the whole product.
Marketplaces act on complaints. Amazon can remove a listing as soon as a rights owner reports it, and its neutral APEX evaluation only covers US utility patents. See what to do when Amazon removes a listing for a design patent.
Rights are territorial. A US design patent covers the US, a Chinese one China, and a registered EU design every EU member state. Each market needs its own search.

Where to search

All of these searches are free.

Market	Where to search	What it covers
United States	USPTO Patent Public Search	Granted US design patents (numbers start with D), searchable by text and by US design class (D1 to D34, D99)
China	CNIPA patent search and analysis system and the CNIPA gazette	Granted Chinese designs (外观设计) with their brief description and legal status
European Union	EUIPO eSearch plus and DesignView	Registered EU designs; DesignView adds many national design registers
International	WIPO Global Design Database	Over 15 million designs: international (Hague) registrations plus national collections, including China, the EU, Japan and the US
Full text	Google Patents	US and Chinese design documents in one place, good for keywords; not an official register, so confirm legal status with the office

Step by step

Fix the scope. Write down the markets, the product name and its Locarno class (for example class 07, household goods). Every office above can filter by Locarno class or by its own design classes.
Search by words and class, newest first. Use several names for the product (box, bin, crate, container) and its main features (lid, handle, ribs). A US design patent lasts 15 years from grant (14 years if filed before 13 May 2015). A Chinese one lasts 15 years from filing (10 years if filed before 1 June 2021). A registered EU design can last up to 25 years from filing. Search at least that far back.
Read the drawings, not the titles. Titles are generic ("Storage box"); the drawings define the right. Solid lines are claimed. Broken lines show parts that are not claimed, in the US and for partial designs in China and the EU.
Shortlist the closest designs: a similar overall shape and proportions, and similar features in the places a buyer looks.
Check that each shortlisted right is alive. Look up its legal status: in force, lapsed for unpaid annual fees (China), not renewed (EU), withdrawn or expired.
Compare side by side in the same views, as described below.
Keep a dated record of what you searched, where, when, and what you found. It helps your attorney. If you later file your own US design application, you must disclose the known material designs (37 CFR 1.56).
Decide. If nothing close turns up, go ahead, and search again before each new market or large order. If a live design is close, change your design (see how to design around a design patent) or ask a patent attorney for an opinion.

How to compare like an ordinary observer

Put your product and each close design in the same views: front, side, top and perspective. Judge the overall impression first, then the features that create it. The three systems phrase the test differently:

	United States	China	European Union
Who judges	An ordinary observer who knows the earlier designs	A general consumer of the product (一般消费者)	An informed user
The question	Would the observer take one design for the other?	Is there no substantial difference in overall visual effect?	Does it produce a different overall impression?
What weighs more	Differences from the earlier designs: in a crowded field, small differences count	Parts easily seen in normal use, and the features that set the patent apart from earlier designs	Where the designer had little freedom, small differences count
What is left out	Purely functional aspects	Features mainly dictated by function; materials and internal structure that do not change the look	Features solely dictated by technical function
Source	Egyptian Goddess v. Swisa (Fed. Cir. 2008); Richardson v. Stanley Works (Fed. Cir. 2010)	Supreme People's Court interpretation 法释〔2009〕21号, Art. 10 and 11	EU Design Regulation, Art. 8 and 10

When the drawings claim the shape, a different colour, size or material rarely changes the result, and neither does a different logo on the same shape. For each close design, write down which features match and which differ. That list is what you, or your attorney, will work from.

Pending US applications. US design applications are not published before they are granted (35 U.S.C. 122(b)(2)(A)(iv)), so a patent can appear after you launch.
Pending Chinese applications. China publishes a design only when it is granted (Patent Law Art. 40).
Deferred EU designs. An applicant can keep a registered EU design unpublished for up to 30 months from filing (Regulation (EU) 2026/715, Art. 62).
Unregistered EU designs. A new design first made public in the EU is protected against copying for 3 years without any registration (Art. 11).
Other rights. Utility patents, trade dress, trademarks and copyright are separate rights; a design search does not cover them.

Because of these gaps, repeat the search before each new market and at regular intervals while you sell.

Doing it with DesignAround

DesignAround runs the search and a first comparison for you, on your computer.

A quick screen (50 credits; the first 5 each month are free) searches US design patents through the USPTO's official search, and Chinese and European design documents through Google Patents. A deep screen (350 credits) adds Google Patents for US designs, Espacenet for European designs and an image-based search.
The top results are downloaded with their figures and ranked against your 3D model on your machine. An isolated vision model then compares the closest designs view by view, the way an ordinary observer would, and you get a risk level with its reasons.
Each result lists the sources that failed and the blind spots above. The case keeps a dated, hash-chained record of every search.
designaround rescreen repeats a screen and lists what changed. designaround monitor add repeats it on a schedule; monitoring runs while the workbench is open or when you run designaround monitor run.

Two limits. Chinese results arrive with a number and title but without figures, so add the drawings from CNIPA by hand before comparing. And the risk level is a screening aid, not a legal opinion. Download DesignAround or read the docs.

Questions

Is a Google Patents search enough?

It is a good start for US and Chinese design documents, but it is not an official register. Search the EUIPO for EU designs, confirm legal status with each office, and remember that pending US and Chinese applications are not visible anywhere.

My supplier says the design is theirs. Do I still need to search?

Yes. Ask for the registration numbers and check them in the registers: who owns them, which countries they cover and whether they are in force. A factory catalogue is not a licence, and a supplier's own design can still be close to someone else's patent.

How far back should I search?

For rights that can still be in force: at least 15 years for US and Chinese designs and 25 years for EU designs. Older designs still matter as earlier designs: they can show that a newer patent covers less than its owner claims.

Is a search the same as a freedom-to-operate opinion?

No. A freedom-to-operate opinion is a patent attorney's written legal view on specific rights and your specific product. A search, done by hand or with software, is the material that opinion starts from.

Sources

Egyptian Goddess, Inc. v. Swisa, Inc., 543 F.3d 665 (Fed. Cir. 2008) (en banc); Richardson v. Stanley Works, Inc., 597 F.3d 1288 (Fed. Cir. 2010); Samsung Electronics Co. v. Apple Inc., 580 U.S. 53 (2016).
35 U.S.C. 271, 35 U.S.C. 289, 35 U.S.C. 122, 35 U.S.C. 173, 37 CFR 1.56.
Patent Law of the People's Republic of China (2020 amendment), Art. 11, 40 and 42; Supreme People's Court, Interpretation on Patent Infringement Disputes, 法释〔2009〕21号, Art. 10 and 11.
Regulation (EU) 2026/715 on European Union designs, Art. 8, 10, 11, 12 and 62.
WIPO: searching protected designs; USPTO Patent Public Search.

This guide is general information about design rights, not legal advice. For a decision about a specific product, ask a registered patent attorney or agent. DesignAround is software made by Shanghai Qidianyan Technology Co., Ltd.; it is not a law firm.