Rare Federal Circuit En Banc Patent Case Threatens Design Test

For the first time in more than 15 years the Federal Circuit will assemble as a group on Feb. 5, to hear argument in a case that could reshape how design patents are litigated.

LKQ Corp., a leading manufacturer of replacement car parts, is challenging a General Motors Co. subsidiary’s 2017 patent on an “ornamental design for a vehicle front fender.” LKQ argues the design is obvious in light of a patent granted a year earlier viewed in combination with a fender pictured in a 2010 brochure for a Hyundai Tucson.

But more than a front fender is riding on ...