After Lkq V Gm: Design Patent Obviousness under the Graham Framework

38 questions on after lkq v gm, answered and cited by the UpLaw editorial team.

• Can copyright protect a product's appearance alongside a design patent?
• Did LKQ cause design patent allowance rates to collapse?
• Does the same obviousness statute govern both design and utility patents?
• Do I still need a primary reference to invalidate a design patent?
• How did KSR v. Teleflex set the stage for overruling Rosen-Durling?
• How did the USPTO respond to the LKQ decision?
• How does generative AI interact with the new LKQ obviousness standard?
• How does MPEP § 1504.03 treat design patent obviousness after LKQ?
• How long does a design patent last?
• How should applicants and prosecutors adapt their strategy after LKQ?
• How should in-house counsel and portfolio owners respond to LKQ?
• Under LKQ's first Graham factor, what is the role of the primary reference now?
• Under LKQ, what is the focus of the comparison between the prior art and the claimed design?
• What are the four Graham factors for analyzing obviousness?
• What are the layered-protection options for a product's appearance beyond a design patent?
• What did Dynamite Marketing v. WowLine decide, and why does it matter?
• What did Judge Lourie's concurrence in LKQ argue?
• What did LKQ Corp. v. GM change about design patent obviousness?
• What did the LKQ majority hold?
• What does LKQ mean for design patent litigators, and what is at stake under § 289?
• What genuinely changed after LKQ?
• What happened in Next Step Group v. Deckers, the first PTAB application of LKQ?
• What happened on remand in the LKQ v. GM dispute?
• What has the PTAB institution rate been for post-LKQ design IPR petitions?
• What held firm after LKQ, despite the change?
• What is a design patent, and what does it protect?
• What is analogous art, and why is it the coming battleground in design patent law?
• What is a primary reference (Rosen reference) in a design patent obviousness analysis?
• What is obviousness under 35 U.S.C. § 103?
• What is the LKQ sliding scale for proving obviousness?
• What is trade dress, and does LKQ affect it?
• What key questions did LKQ leave unresolved?
• What must a challenger show to combine references under LKQ's fourth factor?
• What role did the 1893 Whitman Saddle case play in the LKQ decision?
• What was the Rosen-Durling test for design patent obviousness?
• What were the facts of LKQ v. GM?
• Whose perspective governs the obviousness analysis under LKQ's third factor?
• Why did the Federal Circuit hear LKQ en banc, and what questions did it frame?