Rethinking Design Similarity in Intellectual Property: A Consumer Judgment Cognitive Model Based on Form Similarity and Essence Similarity

Rethinking Design Similarity in Intellectual Property: A Consumer Judgment Cognitive Model Based on Form Similarity and Essence Similarity | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Rethinking Design Similarity in Intellectual Property: A Consumer Judgment Cognitive Model Based on Form Similarity and Essence Similarity Yu-Lin ZHAO, Wan-Qiang LI, Ding-Bang LUH, Yang-Yi XIA, Fei Hu This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7114393/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract With the increasing importance of industrial design in innovation and intellectual property governance, traditional methods of similarity judgment have been questioned due to their subjectivity and lack of quantitative basis. This study, based on psychophysics and cognitive psychology, proposes a consumer perception model with dual dimensions of Form Similarity and Essence Similarity to explore how users make similarity judgments of industrial designs. The research uses vases as experimental materials, categorizing their appearance into primary and secondary features, and measures the differences in cognitive coverage, sensitivity to differences, and subjective judgments among different consumer groups through a three-stage experiment. The results show that primary features play a dominant role in judgment. When the similarity exceeds 74.24%, consumers are more likely to consider the shapes similar. Moreover, the judgment exhibits non-linear characteristics, with experienced consumers demonstrating higher recognition stability and sensitivity. The study not only builds an operable similarity evaluation framework but also provides interdisciplinary policy insights for intellectual property review, consumer research, and design management. Biological sciences/Psychology Social science/Psychology Social science/Science technology and society Industrial Design Patents Form Similarity Perception Cognitive Psychology Consumer Behavior Form Similarity and Essence Similarity Framework Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7114393","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":505660865,"identity":"488578af-9381-4360-83c5-83fa262c5750","order_by":0,"name":"Yu-Lin ZHAO","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"City University of Macau","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yu-Lin","middleName":"","lastName":"ZHAO","suffix":""},{"id":505660866,"identity":"1e038e30-4dd9-4da6-85ba-99b17cbc5fe0","order_by":1,"name":"Wan-Qiang LI","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA8UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACPgYGxgcJFTVyYJ6EAZA4QEALGwMDs8GHM8eMeUjRwiY5s405sQcuRFCLRPIGaR42tvT97L2HX1gUMMjx3Uhg/FyAV0tagTEPj0xuD8+5NAugw4wlbyQwS8/Ap0U6xyCZR4Itt0cix8wAqCVxw40ENmYeAloO8xgwp/NAtdQTo8WwcUYCcwJQi/EDoJYEA4Ja5J8VM3w4cMyw58wZM2AgSxjOPPOwWRqfFn6ew9t/JP6rkWdv7zH+LPHHRp7vePLBz/i0AIEBwpESDBJAmrEBvwYkLcwfPxBSOwpGwSgYBSMSAAASWUNAhlJBiQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Tongji University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wan-Qiang","middleName":"","lastName":"LI","suffix":""},{"id":505660867,"identity":"cd2bebe9-111f-41a3-88d8-6a14a18e9232","order_by":2,"name":"Ding-Bang LUH","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"City University of Macau","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ding-Bang","middleName":"","lastName":"LUH","suffix":""},{"id":505660869,"identity":"75cfb8c8-0a4e-4969-b3d5-b8b484343d06","order_by":3,"name":"Yang-Yi XIA","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"City University of Macau","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yang-Yi","middleName":"","lastName":"XIA","suffix":""},{"id":505660870,"identity":"e58d5648-2940-422f-8f0b-e66dc996d8e8","order_by":4,"name":"Fei Hu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Tongji University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Fei","middleName":"","lastName":"Hu","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-07-13 16:08:07","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7114393/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7114393/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":92549197,"identity":"3e433084-fd8d-4a43-ba90-5480edae2caf","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-30 22:46:40","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":2157520,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7114393/v1_covered_4ab890ad-7c84-4b2c-8e60-efd02f9149a4.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Rethinking Design Similarity in Intellectual Property: A Consumer Judgment Cognitive Model Based on Form Similarity and Essence Similarity","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Industrial Design Patents, Form Similarity Perception, Cognitive Psychology, Consumer Behavior, Form Similarity and Essence Similarity Framework","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7114393/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7114393/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eWith the increasing importance of industrial design in innovation and intellectual property governance, traditional methods of similarity judgment have been questioned due to their subjectivity and lack of quantitative basis. This study, based on psychophysics and cognitive psychology, proposes a consumer perception model with dual dimensions of Form Similarity and Essence Similarity to explore how users make similarity judgments of industrial designs. The research uses vases as experimental materials, categorizing their appearance into primary and secondary features, and measures the differences in cognitive coverage, sensitivity to differences, and subjective judgments among different consumer groups through a three-stage experiment. The results show that primary features play a dominant role in judgment. When the similarity exceeds 74.24%, consumers are more likely to consider the shapes similar. Moreover, the judgment exhibits non-linear characteristics, with experienced consumers demonstrating higher recognition stability and sensitivity. 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