The future is not obvious for design patent challenges. Chris provides his perspective on the recent LKQ v. GM case in a Law360 article:
“The current test prohibits ‘contrived, artificial arguments for obviousness’ that are based on combining multiple earlier designs…The truth is that the constituent elements of any claimed design, if you break it down to its smallest parts, can always be found in the prior art…You can find any line, any curve, any surface somewhere in the prior art. If you use that approach of picking and choosing through the prior art, it will send design patents into a tailspin.”
