In a St. Patrick’s Day blog post, we explored how the common shape of the shamrock is used as a descriptive term in patent descriptions and claims.

In this Easter post, we turn to the use of another common shape: the egg. There are multiple ways of describing a product as being egg-shaped, the most obvious of which is the straightforward “egg-shaped.” There are, however, three other popular options to choose from:

1. Ovoid
2. Ovate
3. Oviform

Of these, the most popular is “ovate,” which is found in the descriptions in 19241 patents and in the claims of 386 patents.