By Colin B. Harris
Oakley, Inc. (“Oakley”) filed suit against 7-Eleven, Inc. (7-Eleven) on June 25, 2015 in the District Court for the Southern District of California. In its Complaint, Oakley alleges that certain products sold and/or offered for sale at 7-Eleven stores infringe the following design patents:
| July 13, 2015
- No. D649,579 (the ‘579 Patent”);
- No. D547,794 (the ‘794 Patent”);
- No. D554,689 (the ‘689 Patent”);
- No. D556,818 (the ‘818 Patent”);
- No. D692,047 (the ‘047 Patent”); and
- No. D653,699 (the ‘699 Patent”).
For each of Oakley’s six asserted design patents, the Complaint includes images of allegedly infringing products sold in 7-Eleven stores. For example, the Complaint includes the images copied below of sunglasses found in a 7-Eleven in San Diego, California, which are alleged to infringe the ‘579 Patent (Fig. 1 of which is copied below).


Sunglasses Sold by 7-Eleven
Fig. 1 of the '579 Patent
Oakley has frequently sought to protect its intellectual property rights, including asserting some of the same design patents listed above. We have reported on numerous complaints filed by Oakley involving its design patents, a few of which can be found here, here and here.
Special thanks to Ms. Clothilde Lucius for contributing to this post.