Maybe rubbish, but if it's legal rubbish then there's a problem. Our patent system is screwed up beyond belief. I had thought that maybe design patents were a

Maybe rubbish, but if it's legal rubbish then there's a problem. Our patent system is screwed up beyond belief. I had thought that maybe design patents were a new thing, but a little research shows they aren't. The first was in 1842, and the Coke bottle in 1915 is a notable example. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_patent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_patent The only ray of light is that a design patent is invalid if the design has a functional benefit.