How important the design pattern is to a young Industrial Designer at a giant corp?
A long story short, a design that I did is now ready to be launched, and suddenly it became my studio manager’s work (who is also young and fresh but never involved in the design because it was done before he became a studio manager )
I heard the similar stories before but I didn’t expect it will become my own story.
Personally I don’t think the design itself is groundbreaking or anything, but what I want to address is I want to maintain a dignity and a right to claim that it was done by myself with help of my team member.
My coworkers will recognize it but rest of the company won’t.
it’s his right to say he managed it’s design, anyone experienced with the process will know the difference. It’s quite typical to get offended before you get used to the system. One day you’ll get to do the same.
Are you asking how important is it to get your name on the Design PATENThttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent as a young designer at
a giant corporation?
I would say in the eyes of the rest of the corp, design patents (in general) are probably not a big deal, given their limitations and history. Functional patents are a different story and design patents may be getting more important after recent court decisions. All that being said, there is no reason why all parties who worked on the design you + team + manager should not have their names on the design patent, in fact they all SHOULD be on the patent.
Assuming you are talking about a design patent, IDiot is probably correct in saying they’re not such a big deal. However it is illegal for someone who is not the inventor or designer to claim to be so on a patent application:
If a person who is not the inventor should apply for a patent, the patent, if it were obtained, would be invalid. The person applying in such a case who falsely states that he/she is the inventor would also be subject to criminal penalties.
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/doc/general/index.html#who
and
The inventor must make an oath or declaration that he/she believes himself/herself to be the original and first inventor of the subject matter of the application, and he/she must make various other statements required by law and various statements required by the USPTO rules.
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/doc/general/index.html#oath
These apply equally to design patents and utility patents. It’s quite normal for a studio manager to take credit for all the studio’s designs in press and publicity material. However a patent is a legal document, and your manager is committing a criminal offence in claiming to be the original designer. Furthermore the company you work for is wasting its money, since the patent would be invalid if it could be shown the studio manager was not the original designer.
You can still put the product in your portfolio!