More details to this question:
I would like to know if I can file for a design patent on an expired utility patent. I have an idea on a product and I did a patent search to see what was out there. I notice that there was a utility patent on something very similar to my product, but it has expired due to non payment of fees. But from my search, there was no design patent.
1 ANSWER
If the design is shown in the utility patent, it is not possible to obtain a design patent for that design. However, since you state that it is only "very similar", if there are ornamental differences between your design and that of the utility patent that are not merely obvious modifications, it may be possible to obtain a design patent based on those differences.
Answered on Feb 08th, 2013 at 3:10 PM