WeatherTech Uses Billion-Dollar Success to Beat Patent Challenge

WeatherTech beat a challenge to a patent covering its custom-fit vehicle floor mats, with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board finding the mats were a “revolutionary concept” that have generated billions of dollars in revenue.

Washington-based Yita LLC asked the PTAB to review WeatherTech’s U.S. Patent No. 8,382,186. It argued the patent covers an invention that would’ve been obvious based on earlier inventions and a book about plastics processing.

While the PTAB agreed various elements of the patent were disclosed by those references, the board found decisive WeatherTech’s evidence showing the mats were a commercial hit, satisfied a long-standing ...