copyright patents
Do design patents/copyright cover &quot;remixing&quot; of spare parts?
<p>Given a design patent, that covers a specific product.</p>
<p>Do I infringe on that design patent, if I take a visible and identifiable spare part (which contains no branding) and use that part in a different product, which I then intend to sell?</p>
<p>How about copyright? Reproducing that spare part would probably infringe on the copyright. But what if I just buy the spare part, integrate it into a different product and sell it?</p>

<p>In your example is the spare part the subject of a design patent? I assume it is not. When you combine the spare part to create a “different product” does the finished product resemble the drawings in the design patent?</p>
<p>If, in its intended use, the final thing is close enough to the design patent to fall within its scope then you might by indirectly infringing by inducing people to infringe. The scope of a design patent is very difficult to determine reliably.</p>
<p>This has nothing to do with how you got the components of your product, just how the completed thing looks.</p>
<p>Copyright does not cover products (unless it is a model of a building or a statue or mold for a statue).</p>
