Design patents are difficult and expensive to obtain. Many original designs that provide a distinguishable and appealing variation over prior designs for similar articles will fail to meet these standards. This does not include attorneys' fees for prosecuting the application and the application process can take several years. State protection is not available. Since the only way to be sure a design is protected is to obtain judicial determination, a forced election between design protection and copyright registration may cause designers to abandon design protection when they may not be sure they have copyright protection.
International law allows for much the same remedies as U.S. law.
However, because the Act went into effect on the very day it was signed into law, this form is not yet available. When made in a foreign country, before any diplomatic or consular officer of the U.S. authorized to administer oaths, or before any official authorized to administer oaths in the foreign country, whose authority must be proved by a certificate of a diplomatic or consular officer of the United States. The Administrator may request that any document filed in the Office of the Administrator be subscribed to by a written declaration in such form as the Administrator may prescribe. Such declaration must be in lieu of the oath otherwise required. Ultimately, the purchaser of an outrigger will not only drive the market, but support or defeat design piracy with their purchasing dollars.