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Utility Patents Patent Litigation

Weintraub Tobin

Federal Circuit Changes Obviousness Test For Design Patents

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In a recent en banc decision, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has overruled its prior test for nonobviousness of design patent inventions, holding that design patents are subject to the same test as utility patents. LKQ...more

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

Design Patent Trends at the ITC – Mid-Year Update

Ten Section 337 Investigations were terminated in the first half of 2024. Of those ten investigations, two involved design patents. Although those investigations ended with the Commission issuing no remedial orders (including...more

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

Design Patents vs. Utility Patents: A Unique Advantage in Litigation

Need another reason to secure and enforce design patents? Design patents offer a unique additional remedy in district court litigation: profit disgorgement. While design patent owners may still pursue the traditional remedies...more

Sunstein LLP

Federal Circuit Upends Obviousness Test for Design Patents, Leaving Uncertainty and Potential Opportunity

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On May 21, 2024, the Federal Circuit upended decades of precedent regarding design patents in its decision LKQ Corporation v. GM Global Technology Operations LLC. Sitting en banc, a panel of Federal Circuit judges overturned...more

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

Design Patents at the PTAB: Performance Gap Between Design and Utility Patents Highlights the Durability of Design Patents

Since the inception of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) in 2012, design patents obtained a higher rate of favorable results in Inter Partes Reviews (“IPRs”) and Post Grant Reviews (“PGRs”) than utility patents. For...more

Irwin IP LLP

After 40 Years, a Fundamental Change to Design Patent Law 

Irwin IP LLP on

LKQ Corp.1 v. GM Global Tech. Operations LLC, No. 21-2348 (Fed. Cir. May 21, 2024) - On May 21, 2024, the Federal Circuit overruled its long-standing Rosen-Durling obviousness test for design patents and replaced it with...more

Venable LLP

Federal Circuit Overrules Obviousness Test for Design Patents and Decades of Precedent

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A recent en banc Federal Circuit decision overruled the unique test for obviousness of design patents and advised that the same analysis should apply to both utility patents and design patents. LKQ Corporation v. GM Global...more

Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP

Federal Circuit Overrules Previous Obviousness Rosen-Durling Test for Design Patents

On May 21, the Federal Circuit, in an en banc decision of LKQ Corp. v. GM Global Tech. Operations LLC, has overruled the Rosen-Durling test applied in evaluating obviousness of design patents. Instead, the CAFC applied the...more

Womble Bond Dickinson

USPTO Issues Updated Examination Guidance After Federal Circuit Overhauls Test for Design Patent Obviousness

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The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a Memorandum to the Corps of Patent Examiners (the “Guidance”), attempting to provide clarity in the wake of the Federal Circuit’s highly anticipated en banc...more

Lathrop GPM

Federal Circuit Overrules Decades-Old Test for Design Patent Obviousness

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On May 21, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, sitting en banc, overruled its longstanding test used to assess the obviousness of design patents....more

Fenwick & West LLP

En Banc Federal Circuit Overrules Longstanding Test for Design Patent Obviousness

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On Tuesday, the en banc Federal Circuit released its highly anticipated decision in LKQ v. GM Global Technology Operations LLC, rejecting as “improperly rigid” the previous standard for evaluating whether a design patent is...more

Vinson & Elkins LLP

Re-“Designing” a New Standard: The Federal Circuit Aligns Obviousness Test for Design and Utility Patents

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In a considerable shift in the law, the Federal Circuit has discarded the long-standing test for determining whether a design patent is invalid as obvious, in favor of the more flexible obviousness test historically applied...more

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

ITC Update: Takeaways from Certain Replacement Automotive Lamps

The Commission recently reversed the ALJ’s determination that the economic prong of the domestic industry requirement was satisfied and thereby found that there had been no section 337 violation in Certain Replacement...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Who Solved the Problem? Joint Inventors, That’s Who

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court’s decision to correct inventorship in a post-issuance inventorship dispute, finding that the alleged joint inventors’ contributions were significant...more

Williams Mullen

Patent Litigation Update 2024

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While the number of filed patent cases is down, it is still the most prevalent type of IP claim. In 2023, there were 3,111 patent cases filed, following a downward trend since 2021, with the Western District of Texas still...more

AEON Law

Patent Poetry: Will Federal Circuit Soften Test for Design Patent Obviousness?

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An en banc panel of the Federal Circuit recently heard arguments in a case that could change how courts assess design patents for “obviousness.” LKQ Corporation and GM Global Technology Operations LLC are engaged in a...more

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

Federal Circuit IP Appeals: Summaries of Key 2023 Decisions (8th Edition): LKQ Corp. v. GM Global Tech. Operations LLC, 2023 WL...

LKQ filed an inter partes review challenging GM’s auto fender design patent. LKQ was once a licensed repair part vendor for GM. But, after renewal negotiations fell through in early 2022, GM informed LKQ that the parts LKQ...more

McDermott Will & Emery

PTO Creates Separate Design Patent Bar

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The US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) published its final rule, creating a separate design patent bar where admitted design patent practitioners will practice in design patent proceedings only. (88 Fed. Reg. 78644 (Nov. 16,...more

AEON Law

Patent Poetry: Federal Circuit Rules on “Comparison Prior Art” in Design Patent Infringement

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The Federal Circuit has ruled that “comparison prior art” used in infringement analysis in a design patent infringement must be applied to the same “article of manufacture” that is identified in the claim of the design...more

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt PC

Latest Federal Court Cases - July 2023

Medytox, Inc. v. Galderma S.A., Appeal No. 2022-1165 (Fed. Cir. June 27, 2023) In this week’s Case of the Week, the Federal Circuit upheld an application by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of its Pilot Program...more

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

Federal Circuit to Sit En Banc to Hear LKQ v. GM Case on Obviousness for Design Patents

For the first time in over five years, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will be hearing a patent case en banc. The Court has agreed to hear LKQ Corporation v. GM Global Technology Operations LLC, which...more

Irwin IP LLP

String ‘Em Up: Light Patentee OK to Notify Others of Patent Suit: Lite-Netics, LLC, v. Nu Tsai Cap. LLC, d/b/a Holiday Bright...

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Sticks and stones may break your bones, but don’t complain to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”) if a patentee calls you an infringer, claims you copied, or threatens to sue your customers.  Holding speech...more

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

2022 Design Patents Year in Review: Analysis and Trends: International Design Law: Global Law and Policy

Design protection continues to be a priority for governments around the world. Global design protection is gradually becoming more modern and harmonized. Building on earlier developments, China made progress to implement...more

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

2022 Design Patents Year in Review: Analysis and Trends: ITC: Design Patents Continue to Outperform on Obtaining Remedies at the...

Last year, in our inaugural issue of “The Year in Review,” we reported that since the landmark jury verdict in the IP litigation between Apple and Samsung in 2012, which awarded more than $1B to Apple for infringement of...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

IPO & Harrity Analytics Release List of Top 300 Patent Holders for 2022

Last month, the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) and Harrity Analytics announced the release of the 40th annual list of the top 300 organizations receiving U.S. utility patents (see "Top 300 Organizations...more

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