Walmart, Lowe’s Win Challenge to Collapsible Tent Frame Patent

Walmart Inc., Lowe’s Home Centers LLC, and other retailers convinced an administrative tribunal that a patent covering a collapsible tent frame is invalid.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board found Caravan Canopy International Inc.’s U.S. Patent No. 5,944,040 is invalid because it covered an obvious invention. California-based Caravan has filed several lawsuits alleging infringement of the patent.

“Upon consideration of the briefing and the evidence of record, we determine that Petitioner has proven by a preponderance of the evidence that” the patent’s claims “would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art based on” previous ...