In the latest installment of their monthly Law360 column on recent noteworthy Federal Circuit decisions, partners Sean Murray and Jeremiah Helm examine the “fundamental shift in intellectual property law” resulting from the court’s decision in LKQ Corporation v. GM Global Technology Operations LLC.
As Murray and Helm explain, the court’s en banc decision in LKQ “overruled three decades of precedent and adopted a new standard for assessing the obviousness of design patents.” The authors trace the evolution of the case from its origin in an inter partes review before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and discuss key historical cases that provide context for the Federal Circuit’s decision.
Looking ahead, the authors maintain that the LKQ decision “leaves many questions unanswered.” Among these questions, they write, is what reasons to combine a design patent challenger will be able to advance in arguing obviousness. They conclude: “One thing is clear: The LKQ decision has given design patent lawyers and judges much food for thought.”
Read the full article here.
