Federal Circuit Upends Obviousness Test for Design Patents, Leaving Uncertainty and Potential Opportunity

On May 21, 2024, the Federal Circuit upended decades of precedent regarding design patents in its decision LKQ Corporation v. GM Global Technology Operations LLC. Sitting en banc, a panel of Federal Circuit judges overturned the Rosen-Durling standard for obviousness for design patents in favor of a more “flexible” approach utilized in utility patent decisions….
By: Sunstein LLP