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I am considering filing both a provisional patent application and a design patent application. The design patent application would be a backup if the reviewer would abandon the provisional, so that at least the look of my invention would be protected. This would be beneficial since there are a bunch of similar patents around which are not exactly my design, which is better in functionality.
Is this a wise strategy?
Standard answer: Ask your attorney!
My personal view: a design patent is valuable because (1) it is cheaper and requires no maintenance fee, (2) it is issued quicker than an utility patent, (3) any patent is better than none, and (4) you get to use "patented" text on your product. A design patent is also valuable because, surprisingly, many Ch***** copycats still don't have the wit to even change the appearance to get away from design patent claim.
Again, ask your attorney. We can't tell you if your design is patent-able or of any significant value.
