Imagine That IP Law Blog

Artificial intelligence (AI) is now a part of U.S. design patent examination, but not in the way some practitioners may expect. The latest public USPTO materials do not identify a new, post-DesignVision AI tool dedicated to design patent examination. Instead, the more important development appears to be that DesignVision has moved from a newly announced search tool to a routine part of the design examination workflow.

The USPTO launched DesignVision in July 2025 as “the first artificial intelligence (AI)-based image search tool available to design patent examiners” through the Patents End-to-End, or PE2E, search suite. The tool allows design examiners to search U.S. and foreign industrial design collections using images as the input query, with centralized and federated searching across design patents, registrations, trademarks, and industrial designs from more than 80 global registers. The USPTO emphasized that DesignVision augments, but does not replace, other examiner search tools.

The USPTO’s published May 2026 update is significant because it suggests DesignVision is no longer a newly available capability. Rather, in a May 19, 2026 patent alert, the USPTO reported that design examiners were reducing both unexamined design application inventory and first-action pendency while “embracing the use of DesignVision in each of their searches” and incorporating the recent supplemental guidance for computer-generated interfaces and icons.

What DesignVision Changes in Practice
Design patent examination has always depended heavily on visual comparison. That makes image-based AI searching particularly relevant to design practice. According to the USPTO’s Official Gazette notice, DesignVision compares examiner-uploaded query images with available databases and returns results based on, and sortable by, image similarity. The tool also includes features such as searching with up to seven uploaded images, weighting visual features, focusing on specific image features, and applying text and classification filters.

For practitioners, one of the most useful aspects of the DesignVision rollout is record transparency. The USPTO stated that, when an examiner uses DesignVision, the PE2E search history will indicate that the tool was used. The application file wrapper search notes should identify which application images were used as a query, and the search history summary report should identify the number of images uploaded, filters applied, and search results. Although, the actual images uploaded into the tool interface are not included in the summary report when necessary to preserve confidentiality under 35 U.S.C. § 122.

That means practitioners reviewing a design Office Action should not stop at the cited references alone. The search notes and search history may provide useful context regarding whether the examiner used AI-assisted visual searching, which views were searched, and what search parameters may have shaped the prior art search results.

New Flexibility for GUIs, Icons, Projections, Holograms, and AR/VR Interfaces
The most important 2026 design examination update may not be an AI tool at all. On March 13, 2026, the USPTO issued supplemental guidance for examination of design patent applications related to computer-generated interfaces and icons. The guidance applies to design patent applications and proceedings under Chapters 30, 31, and 32 filed before, on, or after March 13, 2026.

The guidance gives applicants more flexibility in presenting designs for computer-generated interfaces and icons. Most notably, the USPTO removed the prior instruction that drawings must depict a display panel, or a portion of one, in solid or broken lines where both the title and claim properly identify the article of manufacture, such as a computer, computer system, or computer display panel. Applicants may still show a display panel, including in broken lines, but the USPTO no longer requires it in those circumstances.

The guidance also clarifies that computer-generated interfaces and icons for a computer, computer display, or computer system can be patent-eligible under 35 U.S.C. § 171 when properly disclosed and claimed. The USPTO further recognized additional eligible design formats, including projections, holograms, and virtual or augmented reality interfaces or icons, provided the design is not merely a transient or disembodied picture and is properly tied to an article of manufacture.

AI-Assisted Design Creation and Inventorship
AI is also changing the applicant side of design patent practice. In November 2025, the USPTO issued revised inventorship guidance for AI-assisted inventions, rescinding its February 2024 guidance. The revised guidance states that the same legal standard for inventorship applies regardless of whether AI was used, that AI systems cannot be named as inventors or joint inventors, and that AI systems are treated as tools used by human inventors.

Importantly, the USPTO expressly stated that this revised guidance applies not only to utility applications and patents, but also to design and plant patent applications and patents. The guidance also confirms that the Federal Circuit has applied the same inventorship inquiry to design and utility patents.

For design applicants using generative AI in concept development, an important point to remember is documentation. Practitioners should be prepared to identify the natural person or persons who conceived the claimed ornamental design, not merely who operated an AI system or selected among AI-generated outputs.

Pendency, Backlog, and the End of Expedited Examination of Design Applications
The USPTO has also reported measurable progress in design application pendency. As of May 18, 2026, the inventory of unexamined design patent applications awaiting first action had declined to 62,166, compared with more than 86,453 applications in January 2025. The USPTO also reported that first-action pendency for design applications dropped during the fiscal year from 16.9 months to 14 months, the lowest level since FY 2018.

At the same time, applicants no longer have access to the former expedited examination procedure for design applications under 37 C.F.R. § 1.155. The USPTO suspended expedited examination of design applications effective April 17, 2025, and then issued a final rule eliminating it effective August 14, 2025. The USPTO attributed the change to efforts to reduce design application pendency and inventory. The USPTO noted that accelerated examination remains available in limited circumstances where an applicant files a petition to make special with the appropriate showing and fee.

The Bottom Line
The USPTO’s use of AI in design patent examination centers on DesignVision, an AI-based image search tool that has become part of routine design examination rather than a separate new post-DesignVision system. DesignVision lets examiners search domestic and foreign design collections using images, compare visual similarity, apply filters, and document use in the PE2E search history, giving practitioners useful context beyond the cited references in an Office Action.

Recent USPTO guidance also gives applicants more flexibility for digital designs, including GUIs, icons, projections, holograms, and AR/VR interfaces, so long as the claimed design is properly tied to an article of manufacture. AI-assisted design creation raises inventorship issues because AI cannot be named as an inventor, and applicants should document the human conception of the claimed ornamental design. Meanwhile, design pendency and backlog have improved, but expedited examination for design applications has been eliminated, leaving only limited accelerated examination options.

REFERENCES

USPTO launches new design patent examination AI tool

DesignVision: A New Artificial Intelligence-Powered Image Search Tool

Strong progress continues on design patent examination

Artificial Intelligence Search Automated Pilot Program

Automated Search Pilot Program

Supplemental Guidance for Examination of Design Patent Applications Related to Computer-Generated Interfaces and Icons

Revised Inventorship Guidance for AI-Assisted Inventions

The USPTO explores generative AI's role in design patents

USPTO issues final rule to eliminate expedited examination of design applications