Wal-Mart and Oakley were among the parties to 8 newly-filed cases and 5 closed cases involving design patents during the two-week period of April 9-20, 2012.  A tabulated summary of these cases is posted here.  Some cases that we found particularly interesting are mentioned below.

Oakley, Inc. filed suit against Great L&H Trading, Inc. in the Central District of California alleging infringement of eyewear design and utility patents.  On the same day, Great L&H Trading filed a corresponding declaratory judgment action in the Southern District of New York.  This new case follows other Oakley eyewear design infringement suits that we previously reported on 02/10/12, 02/16/12, and 03/12/12.  Links to the patents at issue in this case are listed below.

D420,036        D622,755        D581,443

D581,444        D397,350        D399,866

D554,689        D404,754       

5,387,949       5,638,145 



 

 

Vinum Corp. and Oenaphilla, Inc. settled a lawsuit involving a combined bottle "aerator, filter, pourer, re-corker and stopper, all designed into one unit," as shown to the left.  Vinum's complaint alleged that Oenaphilla's Tappo Pour product infringed Vinum's D437,782 patent claiming a design for a bottle stopper. 

 

 

Sheng Yang Metal Co. and Wal-Mart Stores settled a lawsuit involving tool handle designs, shown below.  Shen Yang Metal's complaint alleged that Wal-Mart infringed two of its patents, D483644 and D486717, claiming designs for tool handles.