Columbia’s Design Patent Must Clear New Federal Circuit Test

A federal court will consider whether a Columbia Sportswear patented design used for reflective clothing materials is obvious, and thus invalid, in light of a new test put in place by the Federal Circuit earlier this year.

In May the appeals court scrapped the nearly 30-year-old Rosen-Durling test, which critics said created an almost impossibly high bar for invalidating patented designs on obviousness grounds, even when they only contained incremental changes over previous iterations. Secondary auto parts maker LKQ Corp. convinced the full US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to change the analysis after it was sued by ...