2018-2214

United States Court of Appeals

For The Federal Circuit

CURVER LUXEMBOURG, SARL,

Plaintiff - Appellant,
v.

HOME EXPRESSIONS INC.,

Defendant - Appellee.

Appeal from the District Court of New Jersey, Case No. 2:17-cv-4079

REPLY BRIEF OF PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT

JASON H. KISLIN
[email protected]
BARRY SCHINDLER
[email protected]
MICHAEL A. NICODEMA
[email protected]
GREENBERG TRAURIG, LLP
500 Campus Drive
Suite 400
Florham Park, NJ 07932
(973) 360-7900

Attorneys for Plaintiff-Appellant

Curver Luxembourg, SARL,

NOVEMBER 27, 2018

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. REPLY ARGUMENT .....................................................................................1

A. Introduction ...........................................................................................1

B. The District Court’s Decision Is Contrary To The Patent

Statute ....................................................................................................4
C. The District Court’s Final Judgment Should Be Vacated Under
The Supreme Court’s Definition Of “Article Of Manufacture” ........... 5
D. The District Court Cases Relied Upon By Home Expressions
Do Not Require That The ‘946 Patent Be Limited to A Chair ............. 8

E. The District Court’s Decision Is Inconsistent With In re

Glavas ....................................................................................................9
F. The District Court’s Decision Is Also Contrary To The Code
Of Federal Regulations And The Provisions Of The M.P.E.P. .......... 12
G. Home Expressions’ Argument Based On Copyright Law
Cannot Limit The ‘946 Patent To The Claimed Design In A
Chair ....................................................................................................16

H. The Doctrine Of Prosecution History Estoppel Does Not

Support The District Court’s Decision ................................................17
I. The District Court Misapplied The “Ordinary Observer” Test .......... 20

II. CONCLUSION..............................................................................................24
CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE .......................................................................25
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE ................................................................................26

i
 TABLE OF AUTHORITIES

Page(s)
Cases
Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., LTD,
786 F.3d 983 (Fed. Cir. 2015) .............................................................................. 8
Arminak & Assocs., Inc. v. Saint–Gobain Calmar, Inc.,
501 F.3d 1314 (Fed. Cir. 2007) ............................................................................6
Bernhardt, L.L.C. v. Collezione Europa USA, Inc.,
386 F.3d 1371 (Fed. Cir. 2004) ..........................................................................22

Catalina Mktg. Int’l, Inc. v. Coolsavings.com, Inc.,

289 F.3d 801 (Fed. Cir. 2002) ............................................................................13
Contessa Food Prods., Inc. v. Congara, Inc.,
282 F.3d 1370 (Fed. Cir. 2002) ..........................................................................12
In re Daniels,
144 F.3d 1452 (Fed. Cir. 1998) ........................................................................4, 5
Dobson v. Dornan,
118 U.S. 10 (1886) ..............................................................................................21

Door-Master Corp. v. Yorktowne, Inc.,

256 F.3d 1308 (Fed. Cir. 2001) ..........................................................................22
Egyptian Goddess, Inc. v. Swisa, Inc.,
543 F.3d 665 (Fed. Cir. 2008) (en banc) ......................................................20, 21
Elmer v. ICC Fabricating, Inc.,
67 F.3d 1571 (Fed. Cir. 1995) ............................................................................23

Feist Publ’ns, Inc. v. Rural Tel. Serv., Co.,

499 U.S. 340 (1991) ............................................................................................16
Festo Corp. v. Shoketsu Kinoku Kogyo Kabushiki Co.,
535 U.S. 722 (2002) ......................................................................................19, 20

In re Glavas,
230 F.2d 447 (C.C.P.A. 1956) .....................................................................passim

ii
Kellman v. Coca-Cola Co.,
280 F. Supp. 2d 670 (E.D. Mich. 2003) .........................................................8, 22

Lee v. Dayton-Hudson Corp.,

838 F.2d 1186 (Fed. Cir. 1988) ..........................................................................16

OddzOn Prods. v. Just Toys,

122 F.3d 1396 (Fed. Cir. 1997) ..........................................................................23

P.S. Products, Inc. v. Activision Blizzard, Inc.,

140 F. Supp. 3d 795 (E.D. Ark. 2014)......................................................8, 15, 22

Pac. Coast Marine Windshields Ltd. v. Malibu Boats, LLC,

739 F.3d 694 (Fed. Cir. 2014) ..................................................................6, 19, 20

Peters v. Active Mfg. Co.,

129 U.S. 530 (1889) ........................................................................................2, 11
In re Rubinfield,
270 F.2d 391 (C.C.P.A. 1959) ........................................................................8, 15
Samsung Electronics Co., LTD v. Apple Inc.,
137 S.Ct. 429 (2016) .....................................................................................6, 7, 8
SciMed Life Sys., Inc. v. Advanced Cardiovascular Sys., Inc.,
242 F.3d 1337 (Fed. Cir. 2001) ..........................................................................13
Vigil v. Walt Disney Co.,
1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22853 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 1, 1998), aff’d in
part and rev’d in part on other grounds, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS
6231 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 5, 2000) .........................................................................8, 22
In re Zahn,
617 F.2d 261 (C.C.P.A. 1980) .............................................................................. 4

Statutes
17 U.S.C. § 101 ........................................................................................................16

35 U.S.C. § 112 (b) ....................................................................................................4

35 U.S.C. § 171 ............................................................................................4, 5, 7, 16

35 U.S.C. § 289 ......................................................................................................5, 6

iii
Other Authorities
37 C.F.R. § 1.71 .......................................................................................................14

37 C.F.R. § 1.152 ...............................................................................................12, 14

37 C.F.R. § 1.153 (a)................................................................................................13

37 C.F.R. § 1.154 .....................................................................................................13

M.P.E.P. § 1503.01 ..................................................................................4, 14, 20, 21

M.P.E.P. § 1504.01 ....................................................................................................5

M.P.E.P. § 1504.02 ..................................................................................................11

M.P.E.P. § 1504.03 ..................................................................................................11
Manual of Patent Examining Procedure, § 1503.01 (9th ed. 2014) .......................... 1

iv
 I. REPLY ARGUMENT

A. Introduction

In granting Home Expressions’ motion to dismiss, the District Court made

its position clear: “The scope of a design patent is limited to the ‘article of

manufacture’—i.e., the product—listed in the patent. Thus the [‘946] patent

protects only a pattern for a chair. It does not protect that same pattern on a

basket” (Appx016). It is clear throughout the District Court’s decision that this

conclusion was based on the use of the word “chair” in the ‘946 Patent’s title.

This is a case of first impression, because we are unaware of any decision of

the Supreme Court or this Court in which the scope of a design patent claim has

been limited by the patent’s title. Under the Manual for Patent Examining

Procedure (“M.P.E.P.”)—which sets out the procedures Patent Office Examiners

follow in examining utility and design applications—a design patent’s title “does

not define the scope of the claim”. See Manual of Patent Examining Procedure,

§ 1503.01 (9th ed. 2014) (hereinafter, “M.P.E.P.”). Rather, the title helps

examiners develop a complete field of search of the prior art; ensures that

applications are assigned to the appropriate class, subclass, and examiner; and

ensures proper classification of the patent upon allowance. Id.

Since the 1800s, it has been black letter law that the scope of a design patent

claim is determined by what is illustrated in the patent drawings. In short, a design

patent’s drawings are the claimed invention. Here, the ‘946 Patent drawings do

not illustrate a “chair”. Rather, the drawings show a three-dimensional panel

structure that includes an ornamental Y pattern. The typical functional elements of

a chair—i.e., the arms, legs, seat, and back—are not shown in the drawings.

Although Patent Law requires that the claimed ornamental design be embodied in

an “article of manufacture”, such an article need not be a complete product. Under

Supreme Court precedent, the panel structure illustrated in the ‘946 Patent is, of

itself, an “article of manufacture”. That panel structure was incorporated with

other structures to form Home Expressions’ accused baskets. Since the scope of a

design patent is not limited by its title, the incorporation of the patented design into

Home Expressions’ product constitutes an infringement of the ‘946 Patent.

Further, it is black letter law that the same “ordinary observer” test for

determining infringement of a design patent is used by the Courts and the Patent

Office to determine whether the claimed design is invalid for anticipation. In

applying the ordinary observer test to the question of anticipation, this Court’s

predecessor Court of Customs and Patent Appeals has held that a prior art design

can anticipate a claimed design, regardless of the type of article in which the prior

design is embodied. See In re Glavas, 230 F.2d 447, 450 (C.C.P.A. 1956).

Long ago, the Supreme Court held: “[t]hat which infringes, if later, would

anticipate, if earlier”. Peters v. Active Mfg. Co., 129 U.S. 530, 537 (1889).

2
Applying this time-honored maxim to design patents in view of In re Glavas, the

infringement analysis should be conducted in the same way as for anticipation, i.e.:

if an accused article contains the patented design, that article infringes the patent,

regardless of the use to which the article is put. This is an additional reason why

Home Expressions’ accused basket infringes the ‘946 Patent, and why the District

Court grant of Home Expressions’ motion to dismiss should be vacated.

In re Glavas is followed by Patent Office Examiners to this day. If the ‘946

Patent is limited by the title to the claimed design embodied in a chair (even

though a chair is not shown in the drawings), then the Patent Office’s decades-old

procedure for examining design patents for anticipation by the prior art would be

eviscerated. This would create an irreconcilable inconsistency in the Patent Law

regarding the type of articles of manufacture that can be considered in determining

validity and infringement. Moreover, the value of patents issued under an In re

Glavas examination procedure would be unfairly de-valued—to the detriment of

patent owners—because the pool of products embodying the claimed design

potentially subject to infringement liability would be significantly reduced.

We respond to the arguments made in Home Expressions’ Responsive Brief

below, and will discuss the above legal principles in more detail. As we will show,

based on the relevant statutes, case law, regulations, and M.P.E.P provisions, the

3
District Court’s decision should be vacated, and Curver’s amended complaint

against Home Expressions for infringement of the ‘946 Patent should be reinstated.

B. The District Court’s Decision Is Contrary To The Patent Statute

35 U.S.C. § 171 states: “Whoever invents any new, original and ornamental

design for an article of manufacture may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the

conditions and requirements of this title”. The plain language of § 171 “refers, not

to the design of an article, but to a design for an article, and is inclusive of

ornamental designs of all kinds including surface ornamentation as well as

configuration of goods”. In re Zahn, 617 F.2d 261, 268 (C.C.P.A. 1980).

Nothing in the wording of § 171 limits the scope of a design patent to the

particular article of manufacture “listed” in the patent’s title. This is especially

true, where, as here, the features of that article are not illustrated in the drawings as

being part of the claimed design. Consistent with the statutory scheme, M.P.E.P. §

1503.01 states that a design patent’s title “does not define the scope of the claim”.

Home Expressions cites to 35 U.S.C. § 112 (b) for the proposition that a

claim for an ornamental design is required to “particularly point[] out and

distinctly claim[] the subject matter which the inventor . . . regards as the

invention” (Responsive Brief at 5). The ‘946 Patent drawings satisfy this

requirement. See In re Daniels, 144 F.3d 1452, 1456 (Fed. Cir. 1998) (“It is the

drawings of the design patent that provide the description of the invention.”).

4
 Section 289 of the Patent Statute, addressing remedies for design patent

infringement, also supports Curver’s position. Section 289 states, in pertinent part:

Whoever during the term of a patent for a design, without license

of the owner, (1) applies the patented design, or any colorable
imitation thereof, to any article of manufacture for the purpose of
sale, or (2) sells or exposes for sale any article of manufacture to
which such design or colorable imitation has been applied shall be
liable to the owner to the extent of his total profit, but not less than
$250, recoverable in any United States district court having
jurisdiction of the parties.

35 U.S.C. § 289 (emphasis added).

Thus, § 289 provides a remedy for infringement where the patented design is

applied to “any article of manufacture”, not just the article listed in the patent’s

title. While the District Court conceded the breadth of § 289 as it relates to

potentially-infringing articles, it improperly disregarded the statute based on the

incorrect perception that § 171 contains more limiting language (Appx013-015).

C. The District Court’s Final Judgment Should Be Vacated Under

The Supreme Court’s Definition Of “Article Of Manufacture”

Home Expressions argues based on M.P.E.P. § 1504.01 that “[a] picture

standing alone is not patentable”, and that the design must be embodied in an

“article of manufacture” (Responsive Brief at 6). This argument is without merit,

because Curver has never contended that it patented “a picture standing alone”.

The parties do not dispute that, unlike utility patents, “[i]t is the drawings of

the design patent that provide the description of the invention.” In re Daniels, 144

5
F.3d at 1456; see also Pac. Coast Marine Windshields Ltd. v. Malibu Boats, LLC,

739 F.3d 694, 702 (Fed. Cir. 2014) (“[I]n determining the scope of the claimed

design, ‘[i]t is the drawings of the design patent that provide the description of the

invention’”) (quoting In re Daniels, 144 F.3d at 1452); Arminak & Assocs., Inc. v.

Saint–Gobain Calmar, Inc., 501 F.3d 1314, 1319 (Fed. Cir. 2007) (holding that

design patents “typically are claimed as shown in drawings”).

The ‘946 Patent drawings do not show a “chair”. Rather, they show a three-

dimensional panel structure that includes an ornamental Y pattern. The typical

functional elements of a chair—i.e., the arms, legs, seat, and back—are not shown.

In Samsung Electronics Co., LTD v. Apple Inc., 137 S.Ct. 429 (2016), the

Supreme Court had occasion to interpret the term “article of manufacture” used in

35 U.S.C. § 289. That case involved design patents Apple had obtained on certain

components of its iPhone. Id. at 433. A jury had found that Samsung’s

smartphone infringed these patents, and the question before the Supreme Court

was whether the entire smartphone was the only permissible “article of

manufacture” for purposes of calculating damages under § 289, because consumers

could not separately purchase the components Apple had patented. Id. at 432.

In resolving the issue, the Supreme Court held that the term “article of

manufacture” in § 289 “is broad enough to encompass both a product sold to a

consumer as well as a component of that product. A component of a product, no

6
less than the product itself, is a thing made by hand or machine. That a component

may be integrated into a larger product, in other words, does not put it outside the

category of articles of manufacture.” Id. at 435. The Court viewed this

interpretation as consistent with 35 U.S.C. § 171 (discussed above), because the

Patent Office and the Courts have understood § 171 to extend to components of a

multi-component product. Id. at 435 (quoting, inter alia, In re Zahn, 617 F.2d at

268).

Judged by this standard, the panel structure shown in the ‘946 Patent

drawings is itself an “article of manufacture;” and the ornamental Y pattern is

patentable regardless of whether a complete product is shown. As conceded by the

District Court, a panel structure with a substantially similar ornamental Y pattern is

embodied in Home Expressions’ accused basket (Appx018). Pertinent here, this

Court’s predecessor Court of Customs and Patent Appeals held that a design patent

may be infringed by articles “specifically different” from the article shown in the

patent drawings, and that the “inventive concept” of a design patent is not limited

to “the exact article which happens to be selected for illustration”:

It is well settled that a design patent may be infringed by articles

which are specifically different from that shown in the patent,
Gorham Mfg. Co. v. White, 14 Wall. 511, 81 U.S. 511, 20 L. Ed.
731; Borgfeldt & Co. v. Weiss, 2 Cir., 265 F. 268, and it has been
repeatedly held that a patent will be refused on an application
claiming a design which is not patentably different from, or
involves the same inventive concept as, a design claimed in a patent
granted to the same inventor, even on a copending application. In

7
 re Bigelow, 194 F.2d 550, 39 CCPA 835; In re Russell, 239 F.2d
387, 44 CCPA 716, and cases there cited. It seems evident,
therefore, that the inventive concept of a design is not limited to
the exact article which happens to be selected for illustration in
an application or patent.

In re Rubinfield, 270 F.2d 391, 393 (C.C.P.A. 1959) (emphasis added).

Thus, it matters not whether the ‘946 Patent’s title recites a chair, because

the patent drawings do not illustrate a chair. Rather, they show an ornamental Y

pattern embodied in a panel structure which qualifies as an article of manufacture

under Samsung. 1 As evidenced by Home Expressions’ basket, that article can be

incorporated with other structures to make a finished product. Since the scope of a

design patent is not limited by its title, the incorporation of the patented design into

Home Expressions’ product constitutes an infringement of the ‘946 Patent.

D. The District Court Cases Relied Upon By Home Expressions Do

Not Require That The ‘946 Patent Be Limited to A Chair

The three non-binding lower court cases relied upon by the District Court

and Home Expressions—Vigil v. Walt Disney Co., 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22853,

at *8-10 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 1, 1998), aff’d in part and rev’d in part on other grounds,

2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 6231 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 5, 2000); Kellman v. Coca-Cola Co.,

280 F. Supp. 2d 670, 679-80 (E.D. Mich. 2003); and P.S. Products, Inc. v.

1
This case is even one step removed from Samsung in terms of limiting the scope
of a design patent claim to the article identified in the patent’s title, because unlike
the ‘946 Patent, Apple’s design patents actually showed illustrations of the iPhones
in which the claimed component designs were incorporated. See Apple Inc. v.
Samsung Electronics Co., LTD, 786 F.3d 983, 996-97 (Fed. Cir. 2015).

8
Activision Blizzard, Inc., 140 F. Supp. 3d 795, 801-03 (E.D. Ark. 2014)—are

inapposite. In each of those cases, the article of manufacture recited in the patent’s

title and preamble was part of the design claimed in the drawings; and therefore,

was part and parcel of the infringement analysis. No similar facts are present here.

E. The District Court’s Decision Is Inconsistent With In re Glavas

The District Court’s decision is also inconsistent with the following well-

established legal principles embodied in the case law: (1) if a prior art design

would prevent issuance of a patent due to anticipation, that same design would

infringe the patent if published or sold after the patent issued, see Curver’s

Principal Brief at 14-17 and cases cited therein; and (2) a prior art design can

anticipate a claimed design regardless of the article in which the prior design is

embodied. See In re Glavas, 230 F.2d at 450 (holding that “the use to which an

article is to be put has no bearing on its patentability as a design and that if the

prior art discloses any article of substantially the same appearance as that of an

applicant, it is immaterial what the use of such article is”).

Despite the clear holding of In re Glavas with respect to the test for

determining anticipation, Home Expressions attempts to distinguish the case by

quoting the following portion of the decision: “It is evident that a worker seeking

ideas for improving the appearance of a device would look first to the similar

devices of the prior art for ideas. If his problem were one of designing a float for

9
swimmers, he would not be likely to turn to bottles, soap or razor blade sharpeners

for suggestions, as was done by the board here . . . .” (See Responsive Brief at 9,

quoting In re Glavas, 230 F.2d at 451). That quote, however, does not apply,

because it relates to the question of what types of prior art can be combined in

determining the obviousness of “ideas for improving the appearance of” a design;

not the question of anticipation. Indeed, as the In re Glavas Court held, “so far as

anticipation by a single prior art disclosure is concerned, there can be no question

as to nonanalogous art in design cases”. Id. at 450. In any event, the In re Glavas

Court also held that if the question of obviousness relates to the problem of

“merely giving an attractive appearance to a surface, it is immaterial whether the

surface in question is that of wall paper, an oven door, or a piece of crockery”. Id.

Thus, Home Expressions’ assertion that In re Glavas does not support

Curver’s position because “the Court in Glavas reversed an invalidity rejection

based on the use of prior design patents for different – or non-analogous – articles

of manufacture” (Responsive Brief at 9), is incorrect. The In re Glavas decision

resulted from an Examiner’s obviousness rejection based on a combination of

certain prior art references, when there was no teaching or suggestion in the

references to make the combination. See 230 F.2d at 451. The decision was not

based the question of anticipation, or the question of whether the application of an

attractive appearance to a surface would have been obvious to the skilled artisan.

10
 Patent Office Examiners are required to follow In re Glavas—and consider

both analogous and non-analogous prior art articles of manufacture—when

examining design applications for unpatentability due to anticipation:

Anticipation does not require that the claimed design and the prior art
be from analogous arts. In re Glavas, 230 F.2d 447, 450, 109 USPQ
50, 52 (CCPA 1956). “It is true that the use to which an article is to
be put has no bearing on its patentability as a design and that if the
prior art discloses any article of substantially the same appearance as
that of an applicant, it is immaterial what the use of such article is.
Accordingly, so far as anticipation by a single prior art disclosure is
concerned, there can be no question as to nonanalogous art in design
cases.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted).

M.P.E.P. § 1504.02.

Examiners are also directed to follow In re Glavas, and consider analogous

and non-analogous prior art, when the question of obviousness concerns the

application of an attractive appearance to the surface of an article:

When modifying the surface of a primary reference so as to provide it

with an attractive appearance, it is immaterial whether the secondary
reference is analogous art, since the modification does not involve a
change in configuration or structure and would not have destroyed
the characteristics (appearance and function) of the primary
reference. See In re Glavas, 230 F.2d 447, 109 USPQ 50 (CCPA
1956)).

M.P.E.P. § 1504.03.

Thus, because “[t]hat which infringes, if later, would anticipate, if earlier”,

Peters, 129 U.S. at 537, an infringement analysis in view of In re Glavas should be

conducted in the same way as for anticipation, i.e.: if an accused article contains

11
the patented design, that article infringes the patent, regardless of the use to which

the article is put. This is yet another reason why Home Expressions’ accused

basket infringes the ‘946 Patent, and why the District decision should be vacated.

In re Glavas is still the law, and is followed by Patent Office Examiners to

this day. If the District Court’s decision stands, the scope of the ‘946 Patent claim

will be limited to the illustrated design embodied in a “chair”. In that event, the

Patent Office’s six decades old practice of considering both analogous and non-

analogous prior art articles in determining whether a claimed design is un-

patentable for anticipation and/or obviousness would be turned on its head. This

would create an irreconcilable inconsistency in the Patent Law as to the

appropriate tests for determining validity and infringement of a design patent; and

patents examined and issued under an In re Glavas examination procedure would

be de-valued, because the pool of products embodying the claimed design

potentially subject to infringement liability would be significantly reduced.

F. The District Court’s Decision Is Also Contrary To The Code Of

Federal Regulations And The Provisions Of The M.P.E.P.
The Code of Federal Regulations allows the use of solid and broken lines in

design patent drawings. Solid lines indicate the claimed features of the invention.

Broken lines are used to indicate surrounding environment outside the scope of the

claim. 37 C.F.R. § 1.152; Contessa Food Prods., Inc. v. Congara, Inc., 282 F.3d

12
1370, 1378 (Fed. Cir. 2002) (“If features appearing in the figures are not desired to

be claimed, the patentee is permitted to show the features in broken lines to

exclude those features from the claimed design, and the failure to do so signals

inclusion of the features in the claimed design”.). Here, the ‘946 Patent drawings

do not contain any solid or broken lines illustrating specific features of a chair.

Home Expressions cites to the requirement of 37 C.F.R. § 1.153 (a) that a

design patent claim “be in formal terms to the ornamental design for the article

(specifying name) as shown, or as shown and described” (Responsive Brief at 5).

That provision relates to the preamble of a design claim, and the ‘946 Patent’s

preamble does include the word “chair”. Under 37 C.F.R. § 1.154, a design patent

preamble should state, among other things, “a brief description of the nature and

intended use of the article in which the design is embodied”. Under the law of

utility patents, a preamble stating an intended use for the invention is not a claim

limitation. See Catalina Mktg. Int’l, Inc. v. Coolsavings.com, Inc., 289 F.3d 801,

808 (Fed. Cir. 2002). Home Expressions cites no decision of this Court holding

that a different rule should apply to the preamble of a design patent.2

2
The brief description of the drawings in the ‘946 Patent also uses the word “chair
(Appx022). Since this description does not use any words of limitation such as
“the invention” or “the present invention”, it also cannot limit the scope of the ‘946
Patent to a chair. Cf. SciMed Life Sys., Inc. v. Advanced Cardiovascular Sys., Inc.,
242 F.3d 1337, 1342-43 (Fed. Cir. 2001).

13
 To support the District Court’s decision, Home Expressions also seeks to

draw a distinction between the claiming requirements for design patents under 37

C.F.R. § 1.71, and the disclosure requirements for utility patents under § 1.152.

Specifically, Home Expressions argues that “[w]hile a utility patent ‘must include

a written description of the invention . . . in such full, clear, concise, and exact

terms as to enable any person skilled in the art . . . to make and use the

[invention],’ a design patent ‘must be represented by a drawing . . . and must

contain a sufficient number of views to constitute a complete disclosure of the

appearance of the design’” (Responsive Brief at 3). What §§ 1.71 and 1.152 mean

is that the specification of a utility patent must disclose the invention in sufficient

detail to enable a person skilled in the art to practice it; and the scope of a design

patent claim is determined by the patent drawings. These provisions do not

support the District Court’s decision, but they are certainly consistent with

Curver’s position.

The provisions of the M.P.E.P. also do not support Home Expressions or the

District Court. As discussed above, § 1503.01 states that the title of a design

patent “does not define the scope of the claim”. Any different result would be

14
inconsistent with the holding of In re Glavas that for anticipation, the use to which

an article is put has no bearing on its patentability as a design. 230 F.2d at 450. 3

Home Expressions relies on the last paragraph of § 1502 of the M.P.E.P.,

which states: “Design is inseparable from the article to which it is applied and

cannot exist alone merely as a scheme of surface ornamentation” (Responsive

Brief at 5). The rest of the paragraph reads: “It must be a definite, preconceived

thing, capable of reproduction and not merely the chance result of a method”.

Nothing in this portion of the M.P.E.P. states that the scope of a design

patent claim is limited to the article of manufacture referenced in the patent’s title

or preamble, even when that particular article is not part of the design shown in the

drawings. The provision just means that a design cannot exist as an abstract idea,

but instead must be embodied in an article of manufacture. However, as this

Court’s predecessor held in In re Rubinfield, 270 F. 2d at 393, “the inventive

concept of a design is not limited to the exact article which happens to be

selected for illustration in an application or patent.” (Emphasis added).

3
The District Court relied upon P.S. Products in holding that a design patent’s title
is relevant to claim scope and infringement (Appx012; Appx014-015). As
discussed above, P.S. Products is inapposite, because the patent in that case
included the article of manufacture as part of the claimed design illustrated in the
drawings.

15
 G. Home Expressions’ Argument Based On Copyright Law Cannot
Limit The ‘946 Patent To The Claimed Design In A Chair

Home Expressions argues that Curver’s interpretation of the scope of the

‘946 Patent seeks “to invade the province of copyright protection”, because a

copyright “protects ‘pictorial, graphic, or sculptural feature[s]’ that are separable

from a useful article” (Responsive Brief at 6). This argument is without merit.

First, it is important to point out that the principles of copyright law and

design patent protection can and do co-exist, and Curver’s position is consistent

with both areas of law. For example, only a “minimal degree of creativity” is

required for copyright protection. Feist Publ’ns, Inc. v. Rural Tel. Serv., Co., 499

U.S. 340, 362 (1991). In contrast, design patent protection is available for “any

new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture”. 35 U.S.C. §

171. By virtue of the ‘946 Patent issuing, Curver met the patentability standard of

§ 171. Further, under copyright law, “pictorial, graphic, or sculptural features” of

the “design of a useful article” are eligible for protection if those features “can be

identified separately from, and are capable of existing independently of, the

utilitarian aspects of the article”. 17 U.S.C. § 101 (emphasis added). Similarly,

under design patent law, it is the “non-functional” aspects of the claimed design

that are relevant to patentability and infringement. See Lee v. Dayton-Hudson

Corp., 838 F.2d 1186, 1188 (Fed. Cir. 1988). Thus, both copyright law and design

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patent law contemplate consideration of functional and non-functional design

features applied to articles of manufacture.

Curver is not attempting to invade the province of copyright law. Rather,

Curver’s position—supported by statutory and case law, the M.P.E.P., and the

regulations governing design patents—is that the inventive design claimed in the

‘946 Patent should not be limited to a “chair” for purposes of infringement.

H. The Doctrine Of Prosecution History Estoppel Does Not Support

The District Court’s Decision

As discussed in Curver’s Principal Brief (pages 18-21), the District Court

incorrectly concluded that the scope of the ‘946 Patent is limited to the claimed

design embodied in a chair, because in response to prosecution, the inventor

changed the title of the patent and corresponding text to substitute the word “chair”

for the word “furniture”. The change was simply made in response to the

Examiner’s objection to the title “Furniture (Part of)” on the ground that the term

“Part of” is not an article of manufacture (Appx004-005). The substance of the

patent drawings (which do not illustrate a chair) was not changed. Moreover,

during prosecution, the inventor never disclaimed application of the inventive

design to articles such as Home Expressions’ accused “baskets”. In any event,

Home Expressions fails to cite any decision of this Court in which a change to a

design patent’s title during prosecution resulted in a disclaimer of claim scope.

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 Given the weakness of the case for prosecution history estoppel on both the

facts and the law, it is not surprising that Home Expressions seeks to moot the

issue in its Responsive Brief. Specifically, Home Expressions argues that it was

inappropriate for Curver to address the issue of prosecution history estoppel in its

Principal Brief, because “the district court did not apply prosecution history

estoppel to dismiss Curver’s infringement claim” (Responsive Brief at 11-12).

Thus, Home Expressions contends, “an appeal ‘is not an opportunity to bring

before the appellate court every ruling with which one of the parties disagrees

without regard to whether the ruling has in any way impacted the final judgment’”

(Id. at 11 (citations omitted)). As shown below, this general principle of appellate

practice does not apply, because the District Court’s analysis of the estoppel issue

clearly impacted its decision to grant Home Expressions’ motion to dismiss.

First, the District Court stated, albeit incorrectly, that: “[L]anguage used in a

design patent, such as the title, is relevant to the infringement analysis. The title of

a design patent, for instance, can help delineate the scope of the design patent’s

protections” (Appx012). Next, the District Court analyzed the prosecution history

of the ‘946 Patent, and concluded that “[t]he scope of the claim was thus narrowed

during the prosecution history. Curver surrendered a claim for an ornamental

pattern ‘for furniture’ and accepted a design patent for an ornamental pattern ‘for a

chair.’” (Appx013). Finally, the District Court stated: “It would be reasonable to

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conclude that prosecution history estoppel bars Curver’s claim that the scope of the

patent extends to anything but a chair. Nevertheless, to remove doubt, I will for

purposes of argument concede the issue of prosecution history estoppel and

construe the scope of the patent directly” (Appx016).

However, in construing the scope of the ‘946 Patent, “directly”, the District

Court necessarily relied upon the change made to the patent’s title and

corresponding text during prosecution, because no other claim construction

analysis was conducted by the District Court in reaching the conclusion that there

was no infringement (Appx016-017). As a result, it should be concluded that the

District Court’s estoppel analysis, which occupied a good portion of its written

opinion, impacted the final judgment. Accordingly, it was appropriate for Curver

to address the issue of prosecution history estoppel in its Principal Brief.

Despite arguing that the District Court never applied the doctrine of

prosecution history estoppel, Home Expressions still attempts to address the issue

on the merits (Responsive brief at 12-13). Home Expressions relies upon Pacific

Coast and Festo Corp. v. Shoketsu Kinoku Kogyo Kabushiki Co., 535 U.S. 722

(2002) to support its position (Id at 13); but neither case applies. In Pacific Coast,

the applicant amended the claim by “cancelling figures associated with all but one

of the patentably distinct groups of designs identified by the examiner . . . and

striking references to alternate configurations from the text”. 739 F.3d at 702-03.

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Curver never cancelled any figures in prosecuting the ‘946 Patent. Festo is a

utility patent case, not a design patent case. At bottom, both cases are irrelevant,

because neither one involved the amendment of a design patent’s title during

prosecution.

Home Expressions seizes upon the words “[b]y removing broad claim

language referring to alternate configurations” used by the Pacific Coast Court to

argue that the Court considered “the claim text” in determining whether claim

scope was surrendered during prosecution (Responsive Brief at 4). But the

language in question had been used in the patent application to identify figures that

were cancelled (once the figures were cancelled, the language was unnecessary).

739 F.3d at 703-703. Here, in contrast, the only part of the ‘946 Patent that was

amended during prosecution was text relating to the patent’s title, and minor

formality amendments to the figures. As M.P.E.P. § 1503.01 clearly states, a

design patent’s title “does not define the scope of the claim”.

I. The District Court Misapplied The “Ordinary Observer” Test

Under the “ordinary observer” test for design patent infringement, a design

patent will be infringed if “an ordinary observer, familiar with the prior art, would

be deceived into thinking that the accused design was the same as the patented

design.” Egyptian Goddess, Inc. v. Swisa, Inc., 543 F.3d 665, 672 (Fed. Cir. 2008)

(en banc). Stated another way, “as this court has sometimes described it,

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infringement will not be found unless the accused article ‘embod[ies] the patented

design or any colorable imitation thereof’”. Id. at 678 (citations omitted).

As the Supreme Court recognized long ago, a design is better represented by

an illustration “than it could be by any description and a description would

probably not be intelligible without the illustration.” Dobson v. Dornan, 118 U.S.

10, 14 (1886). The Patent Office is in agreement. See M.P.E.P. § 1503.01 (“[A]s a

rule the illustration in the drawing views is its own best description.”).

Thus, under either statement of the “ordinary observer” test discussed in

Egyptian Goddess, the comparison to be made for purposes of determining

infringement is between the claimed design shown in the patent drawings, and the

design “embodied” in the accused article. By limiting the scope of the ‘946 Patent

to the claimed design in a chair, and comparing a chair to a basket for purposes of

infringement, the District Court misapplied the ordinary observer test. The correct

test is to determine whether an ordinary observer would conclude that the panel

structure with the ornamental Y pattern shown in the ‘946 Patent drawings is

embodied in Home Expressions’ accused basket. Based on the District Court’s

concession that the designs are substantially similar, the answer should be yes.

In addition, it cannot be disputed that the following principles of design

patent law apply to this case: (1) that the ordinary observer test for design patent

infringement is the same test used to determine invalidity of a design patent for

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anticipation; and (2) that the question of whether a prior art reference anticipates

the claimed invention of a design patent turns solely on a comparison of the

designs themselves, without reference to the articles of manufacture in which the

prior art and claimed invention are embodied. See, e.g., Bernhardt, L.L.C. v.

Collezione Europa USA, Inc., 386 F.3d 1371, 1378 (Fed. Cir. 2004) (explaining

that the test for determining anticipation of a design patent is the same as the test

for infringement); Door-Master Corp. v. Yorktowne, Inc., 256 F.3d 1308, 1312

(Fed. Cir. 2001) (holding that “the design patent infringement test also applies to

design patent anticipation”); In re Glavas, 230 F.2d at 450. These legal principles

also show why it was error for the District Court to limit the infringement inquiry

to chairs; and therefore, why the District Court’s final judgment should be vacated.

Although it fails to come to grips with these legal principles, Home

Expressions nevertheless argues that the District Court correctly applied the

ordinary observer test (see Responsive Brief at 8-10). The argument, however, is

without merit, because it is based on: (1) the inapplicable quote from In re Glavas

on the standard for determining the obviousness (not anticipation) of a design

patent based on a combination of prior art; and (2) the non-binding district court

decisions in Vigil, Kellman, and P.S. Products, which are inapplicable because the

patent drawings in those cases included the particular articles of manufacture

recited in the preamble and title as part of the claimed designs (see Id.).

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 Home Expressions also quotes a portion of this Court’s decision in OddzOn

Prods. v. Just Toys, 122 F.3d 1396, 1404 (Fed. Cir. 1997) to argue that “[t]he

infringement inquiry requires more than ‘a simple comparison of the accused

products with the figures in the design patent’” (Responsive Brief at 10-11).

Although omitted from its Responsive Brief, the context of the quoted passage is

important. The OddzOn Court went on to state that “[a] design patent only protects

the novel ornamental features of the patented design”, and the claim construction

and infringement issues in that case required a determination of the ornamental and

functional features of the claimed design. 122 F.3d at 1405. The question of

whether the ‘946 Patent design contains any functional features was not before the

District Court. Consequently, the OddzOn decision has no application here.

Finally, Home Expressions relies upon this Court’s decision in Elmer v. ICC

Fabricating, Inc., 67 F.3d 1571 (Fed. Cir. 1995) for the unremarkable proposition

that the claims, as “properly construed,” must be compared to the accused design

for purposes of determining infringement (Responsive Brief at 11). We agree, and

as properly construed, the claimed design of the ‘946 Patent is not limited to

chairs. Notably, the patent at issue in Elmer was for the design of a vehicle-

mounted advertising sign, and the sign itself was illustrated in the drawings. See

67 F.3d at 1575-76. Thus, the facts of Elmer have no application to this case.

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II. CONCLUSION

For all the above reasons, and the reasons discussed in Curver’s Principal

Brief, the District Court’s judgment should be vacated, and Curver’s Amended

Complaint for patent infringement against Home Expressions should be reinstated.

Dated: November 27, 2018 Respectfully submitted,

By: /s/ Jason H. Kislin

Jason H. Kislin
Barry Schindler
Michael A. Nicodema
GREENBERG TRAURIG, LLP
500 Campus Drive, Suite 400
Florham Park, NJ 07932
Tel. 973-360-7900
Fax 973-301-8410

Attorneys for Plaintiff-Appellant

Curver Luxembourg, Sarl

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 CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE

This brief complies with the type-volume limitations of Federal Rule of

Appellate Procedure 32(a)(7)(B) or Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 28.1(e).

This brief contains 5,982 words, excluding the parts of the brief exempted by

Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 32(f) and Fed. Cir. R. 32(b). This brief

complies with the typeface requirements of Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure

32(a)(5) and the type style requirements of Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure

32(a)(6). This brief has been prepared in a proportionally spaced typeface using

Microsoft Word 2010 in fourteen (14) point Times New Roman font.

Dated: November 27, 2018

/s/ Jason H. Kislin

Attorney for Appellant
Curver Luxembourg, Sarl

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 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

On November 27, 2018, I caused the foregoing Reply Brief of Appellant to

be electronically filed with the Clerk of the Federal Circuit using the CM/ECF

System, which will serve e-mail notice of such filing on the following attorneys:

Mr. Steven M. Auvil, Esq. Mr. Jeremy W. Dutra, Esq.

Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP
127 Public Square, 4900 Key Tower 2550 M Street, NW
Cleveland, OH 44114 Washington, DC 20037

Upon acceptance by the Court of the e-filed document, I will cause six paper

copies of the brief to be filed with the Court, via Overnight Delivery, within the

time provided in the Court’s rules.

/s/ Jason H. Kislin

Jason H. Kislin

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