The dealer statutes of many states require automobile manufacturers to reimburse dealers for parts and labor used in warranty repairs at the “average” retail rates charged by dealers for customer pay repairs. ...more
Addressing the issue of the functional requirements of design patents, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit refused to invalidate design patents on truck parts on the basis of aesthetic functionality. Automotive...more
• In a relatively rare opinion regarding design patents, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit weighed in recently on the requirements for design patents in its Automotive Body Parts Association v. Ford Global...more
On July 23, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit released its decision affirming summary judgment that the asserted design patents were not invalid for non-ornamentality under 35 U.S.C. § 171, and rejecting...more
The Federal Circuit has ruled that neither the exhaustion nor permissible repair doctrines allow manufacture of new replacement components covered by design patents. The Automotive Body Parts Association (ABPA) sued Ford...more
The Federal Circuit issued a precedential opinion on July 23, 2019, affirming the validity of two design patents related to the Ford F-150 hood and headlamp and sweepingly rejecting arguments that the patents on automotive...more
On September 8, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit granted a motion filed by household products manufacturer Clorox for interlocutory appeal of two decisions by the U.S. District Court for the Western District...more
Last week, in Ozark Auto. Distribs., Inc. v. NLRB, the D.C. Circuit rejected the National Labor Relations Board’s attempt to enforce a bargaining order against an employer who had refused to bargain with a newly certified...more