Hoist Fitness Systems, Inc. (“Hoist”) filed a Complaint against Health In Motion, LLC (“Health In Motion”), Inspire Fitness and Sunset Swings (“Inspire Fitness”), and Does 1-10 (collectively, “Defendants”) on August 31, 2015 in the District Court for the Southern District of California. Incidentally, the Complaint specifies that the fictitious defendants named “Does 1-10” “include, but are not limited to, any subsidiaries, affiliates, and/or parent companies of Health In Motion.”

In its Complaint, Hoist alleges “patent infringement, trade dress infringement, unfair competition, and unjust enrichment with regard to Hoist’s intellectual property rights.”

Read More

Lumetique, Inc. (“Lumetique”) filed suit against Blyth, Inc. and PartyLite Gifts, Inc. (collectively, “Defendants”) on September 4, 2015 in the District Court for the District of Connecticut. Please note that Oblon represents Lumetique in this matter.

In its Complaint, Lumetique alleges that “Defendants manufacture, import, offer for sale, and sell certain candle products, including the Nature’s Light series of candles” that infringe two utility patents and two design patents. Specifically, the Complaint alleges that Defendants infringe U.S. Patent Nos. 8,961,171; 9,039,409; D643,554; and D644,359.  By way of example, Figure 1 from D644,359 and Figure 1 from D643,554 are provided below, respectively:

On August 5, 2015, WIPO announced (available here) that its Global Design Database (available here) has added more than 1 million design documents based on data from the U.S., Japan, and Spain.

According to the announcement, users can now use the Global Design Database to search industrial designs registered under the WIPO-administered Hague System*, as well as designs from the U.S., Japan, Spain, Canada, and New Zealand. WIPO indicates that it plans to add other countries’ design data “in the coming months.”

The Global Design Database includes a user-friendly customizable interface, including various search categories, filters, and sorting capabilities.

As of this posting, the Global Design Database reports contents of 1.2 million design documents drawn from among 153,044 Canadian designs, 479,755 Japanese designs, 482,444 U.S. designs, 93,683 Spanish designs, 44,132 New Zealand designs, and 40,762 International (Hague) designs.

*The WIPO-administered Hague System has been previously discussed on this blog (here, here, here, and here). More information about the Hague system can be found here.

Design patent litigations have frequently been in the news the past few years, particularly since Apple and Samsung began battling against each other in the Northern District of California. With the America Invents Act (AIA) also affecting the number of utility patent cases that have been filed, we wondered whether the number of design patent litigations has increased or decreased over the past few years. While the statistics we reviewed indicate no clear trend, we suggest three conclusions that might be drawn from the statistics.

Read More

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: 

Read More