It is true what they say, secrets can come back to haunt you. At least they did for Ford in a recent appeal before the USPTO’s Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (the BPAI) where the BPAI affirmed that an automotive spy photograph published in Trailer Life Magazine, in combination with other art, was sufficient to render obvious the claimed design of a front grill for a Ford Expedition.
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Plaintiff Yokohama Rubber Company LTD (“Yokohama”) sued Defendant Stamford Tyres (“Stamford”) in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (Case No. SACV 07-00010-CJC). Yokohama asserted that Stamford infringed U.S. Design Patent No. D512,014 (the “asserted patent”), directed to the ornamental design for an automobile tire, by selling the Stamford ST-08 tire. As a defense, Stamford alleged that the asserted patent was unenforceable due to Yokohama’s...
In inter partes reexamination 95/000,034,Vanguard Identification Systems Inc., v Bank of America Corporation, the BPAI reversed the examiners obviousness rejection, emphasizing the difference between a proper obviousness determination for design and utility patents. An obviousness determination for a utility patent must consider the perspective of one of ordinary skill in the art to which the invention pertains. For design patents, obviousness is...
The average time to obtain a US Design Patent under regular examination is about 15 months from filing to issue. This pendency is short relative to Utility Patent Applications, which require on average over 35 months of examination before issuing. However, some companies need Design Patent protection even faster. For example, when an competitor is about to launch a similar product on the market, or when investors are demanding patent...
Design Day 2010 was held on April 6 at the USPTO. A number of our attorneys walked across the street to the USPTO and attended this annual event focused on US design patents. A wide variety of speakers gave presentations, including USPTO officials, industrial designers, an ITC judge and practitioners. The following article summarizes these presentations.
Robert Spear was the Master of Ceremonies. Mr. Spear is Supervisory Patent Examiner for Technology Center 2900 ("TC 2900"),...
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