The district court made a similar analysis for the D’485 Patent. The district court looked to the illustrations of the Asserted Design Patents and stated that the disputed lines of the Asserted Design Patents “cannot possibly represent shading.” For example, regarding the D’807 Patent, the district court stated that the disputed lines on the right side and top of the trash can do not indicate contour changes since the right side view and top view are largely flat, and thus devoid of any surface contours. On December 14, 2020, the district court issued a Claim Construction Order construing whether the disputed lines of the Asserted Design Patents, annotated below, are claimed ornamental features or unclaimed contour lines.ĭuring claim construction, simplehuman argued that the disputed lines are shading or contour lines meant to demonstrate the shape of the trash cans. simplehuman responded that the disputed lines that iTouchless was referring to were not seams at all, but instead contour lines indicating the surface contour, and thus the lines themselves are not part of the claimed design. In response to simplehuman’s complaint, iTouchless filed a Motion to Dismiss arguing that the Asserted Design Patents were different from iTouchless’s products due, in part, to the Asserted Design Patents claiming seam lines that are not present in iTouchless’s products. A comparison of iTouchless’s Deodorizer and the D’807 Patent, and iTouchless’s Recycle Can and the D’485 Patent are shown below. D729,485 (the D’485 Patent) (collectively, the Asserted Design Patents). D644,807 (the D’807 Patent) and iTouchless’s Dual-Compartment Open Top Trash and Recycle Can infringes US Design Patent No. Specifically, simplehuman alleges that iTouchless’s Dual-Deodorizer Oval Open-Top trash can product infringes US Design Patent No. (iTouchless) asserting that iTouchless’s products infringe patents owned by simplehuman, including two design patents. Simplehuman, LLC (simplehuman) brought a claim of patent infringement against iTouchless Housewares and Products, Inc. iTouchless Housewares and Products Inc., construing the purported contour lines in two design patents to instead be claimed ornamental features. The US District Court for the Northern District of California recently issued a claim construction order in simplehuman, LLC vs. In order to show the contour or surface of 3D objects in 2D drawings, design applicants often use drawing techniques such as tangent edge lines, also referred to as wire framing, to indicate surface contours instead of or in addition to shading lines or stippling. The benefits of clear surface shading in a design patent were highlighted in a recent district circuit decision, which found that purported contour or tangent edge lines added to the drawings to illustrate a transition edge between rounded and flat surfaces were not proper lines to indicate surface contour, but instead claimed features.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |