2013] APPLE V. SAMSUNG 127
purpose is to make the underlying product more appealing to consumers, and therefore the
overall end appearance of the product is the only truly “useful” aspect of the design.
Although the Court in Gorham established the Ordinary Observer Test, such test has been
clarified with more specific instructions over time.
Today, the design must be viewed as
claimed in the patent.
In other words, in order for an infringement claim to be a valid
infringement claim the infringer cannot include only a part of the patented design.
Instead, the
infringer must incorporate the overall design. Furthermore, it must be the claimed elements of
the design, not the commercial embodiment of the design.
This requirement limits the courts to
find infringement based on the patented design verses the commercial product.
In addition, “both the doctrine of equivalents and patent prosecution history estoppel play
a role in determining design patent infringement”.
The doctrine of equivalents is only applied
to the Ordinary Observer Test.
“The doctrine of equivalents prevents an infringer from
avoiding infringement by making trivial changes to a design”.
As a result, the doctrine is so
that one may not practice a fraud on a patent.
In which case, when the court uses the doctrine
of equivalents the original test must satisfy the original Ordinary Observer Test established in
Gorham, that is, that an ordinary observer will confuse the infringing design for the patented
design.
For example, a transparent glass laptop casing would be an equivalent for a transparent
plastic laptop, which has the appearance of glass. Patent prosecution history estoppel is where
Mueller, supra note 23, at 472.
Gorham, 81 U.S. at 522.
Lee v. Dayton-Hudson Corp., 838 F.2d 1186, 1189 (Fed. Cir. 1988).
Contessa Food Prods., Inc. v. Conagra, Inc., 282 F.3d 1370, 1378-79, 1382 (Fed. Cir. 2002).
Payless Shoesource, Inc. v. Reebok Int'l, Ltd., 998 F.2d 985, 990 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
Cook, supra note 32, at 113.
Id.
Id.
Id.
Graver Tank & Mfg. Co. v. Linde Air Products Co., 339 U.S. 605, 608 (1950).
Cook, supra note 32 at 113.