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Category Archives: Claim Construction

Federal Circuit Holds That Names and Logos Matter in the Design-Infringement Analysis

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Columbia Sportswear N. Am., Inc. v. Seirus Innovative Accessories, Inc., Appeal No. 2018-1329 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 13, 2019)

Columbia Sportswear is the owner of U.S. Patent D657,093 (“the ‘093 patent”), a design patent directed at the “ornamental design of a heat reflective material.” The claimed design is a wave pattern used in sleeping bags, boots, pants, gloves, and jackets. Columbia sued Seirus Innovative Accessories in the District of Oregon for infringement of the’093 patent and a utility patent. Seirus makes outdoor apparel products lined with its HeatWave fabric, and its design features waves of varying pattern and orientation, interrupted by repeated use of the “Seirus” logo. Continue reading…

Watch Your Language: Federal Circuit Rules that Words—Not Just Drawings—Determine the Scope of a Design Patent

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Curver Luxembourg, SARL v. Home Expressions Inc., Appeal No. 2018-2214 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 12, 2019)

Curver Luxembourg, SARL is the owner of U.S. Design Patent No. D677,946, titled “Pattern for a Chair.” The design patent, which features an overlapping “Y” design, claims an “ornamental design for a pattern for a chair.” The title of the design patent, as originally applied for, was “Furniture Part.” However, the application was initially denied for failure to adequately designate the article to which the patent would apply. The Patent Office granted the design patent only after Curver altered the language from “Furniture Part” to “Pattern for a Chair” to satisfy the single article requirement. The design patent does not contain any images or drawings of the design as applied to a chair. Rather, the design patent’s figures illustrate the design pattern disembodied from any article of manufacture.
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