A Fairbanks man designed a pair of pliers, and the University of Alaska owns the look of them for 15 years

Timothy Illguth of Fairbanks designed a pair of pliers, and the university owns their look for 15 years. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted design patent US D1,146,544 S on Sept. 8, from an application filed March 28, 2025. The University of Alaska Fairbanks is the applicant and the University of Alaska is the assignee, so the university holds the rights, not Illguth personally.

A design patent protects only ornamental appearance, not how a tool works. Its one claim is to "the ornamental design for pliers as shown and described."

UAF's Office of Intellectual Property and Commercialization decides whether to pursue commercialization. Its Innovator's Handbook says an innovator gets the first $10,000 plus half of net proceeds after that, subject to the terms of employment. If the university passes on commercializing, ownership reverts to the inventor. Nobody is quoted in either record.