Stage 1
Map the object

Identify the product’s visible features, including its functional and decorative choices.

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Stage 2
Apply the originality filter

Set aside features dictated entirely by technical needs, rules or unavoidable constraints.

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Stage 3
Compare protected expression

Ask whether the later product recognizably copies the creative choices that remain.

Key distinction
General resemblance is not the test. A protected part can still determine whether selling the finished product infringes.