In re Certain Wind and Solar-Powered Light Posts and Street Lamps – ITC

As reported by Oblon’s ITC Blog, the ITC has instituted an investigation in response to a complaint asserting design patent rights for a solar-powered light post and street lamp design. The complainants, a set of New York, New York companies referred to as the Duggal companies, assertU.S. Patent No. D610,732 S (“the ‘732 patent”) for a Wind and Solar-Powered Light Post. The respondents are Gus Power Incorporated of Canada; Efston Science Inc. of Canada; King Luminaire, Inc., of Jefferson, OH; and The StressCrete Group of Canada. The complainants allege that the accused products are “substantially similar to,” or “virtually identical to,” the design protected by the ‘732 patent, citing specific incidences of alleged infringement. No other patents are asserted in the complaint.

The statute in 19 U.S.C. § 1337(a)(1)(B)(i)-(ii) makes no distinction between utility and design patents, but gives the ITC jurisdiction over any patent infringement meeting the other requirements of Section 337. In this case, the complainants report in their complaint that they have no other current litigation related to the ‘732 patent, thus resting the enforcement of their design patent rights on their requests to the ITC for an exclusion order and a cease-and-desist order.

Photographs of selected respondents’ and complainants’ products together with a figure from the ‘732 patent can be found here.

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