Body Massage Tool Doesn’t Copy Design Patent, Appeals Court Says

The maker of a self-massage tool marketed to rock climbers didn’t infringe a California-based rival’s patented massager design, the Federal Circuit said.

The case pitting patent owner Range of Motion Products LLC against Armaid Co. split a panel of appellate judges over the test the court uses for determining whether a product is substantially similar to—and therefore infringes—a patented design. At issue was when a design combines features that are purely ornamental with others that have at least some functionality that falls outside of what is protected by a design patent.

RoM argued on appeal that a district court judge ...