News & Analysis as of

Utility Patents Patent Litigation Obviousness

Weintraub Tobin

Federal Circuit Changes Obviousness Test For Design Patents

Weintraub Tobin on

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

Sunstein LLP

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

Sunstein LLP on

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

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

Fenwick & West LLP on

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

Vinson & Elkins LLP on

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

Williams Mullen

Patent Litigation Update 2024

Williams Mullen on

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

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

Weintraub Tobin

Obviousness Test for Design Patents Unchanged

Weintraub Tobin on

Design patents and utility patents are two different things. Design patents protect ornamental designs, such as the shape of a perfume bottle or the design on flatware. Utility patents protect four categories of functional...more

Polsinelli

Design Patent Holders Rejoice, but Challengers Face an Uphill Battle

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Design patent holders can rejoice, for now, as the Federal Circuit reinforces its stance on the invalidity of design patents based on obviousness. On January 20, 2023, the Federal Circuit upheld a decades old rule that...more

Jones Day

No Soup for You! Partial Display Design Patent Found Obvious

Jones Day on

As with utility patents, a patentee can counter obviousness of a patented design by producing objective evidence that the design was non-obvious, like commercial success, copying, etc.  But to be persuasive, a nexus must...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Three Reasons to File a Design Patent with your Utility Patent

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When filing a utility patent that includes design elements, the patentee is often faced with the question “should I also file a design patent?” The patentee may answer with “there is no need to file the design patent since...more

Smart & Biggar

RxIP Update - 2016 Year in Review

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The following are highlights of developments in Canadian life sciences intellectual property and regulatory law in 2016, updating our 2016 mid-year highlights. 1. Substantive patent law developments - Utility and...more

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