Last week, a U.S. appeals court announced it would reconsider a decision made in favor of GM which upheld the automaker’s design patent for a car fender. The GM patent was challenged in a lawsuit filed by alternative and speciality parts provider LKQ, which argues that design patents for simple parts like car fenders stifles competition. The case is considered of particular interest to auto companies and insurance companies.
Per a recent report from Reuters, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit announced last Friday that all 12 of its sitting judges would hear LKQ’s challenge to the ruling. The full court will examine the standard set for an unpatentable design based on preexisting designs, as well as if a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court ruling related to non-design patents applies to the design-patent standard.
Last year, LKQ requested that the U.S. Patent Office tribunal cancel a GM design patent regarding a front vehicle fender following the expiration of a licensing agreement, after which GM threatened to sue LKQ partners for infringement. LKQ told the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that the patent was invalid on the basis of two preexisting publications, including an earlier design patent and a brochure that outlined a fender design for the 2010 Hyundai Tucson which bears a similar design.
In a brief, GM stated that its fender design was innovative and that the decision should stand. However, auto parts companies argued that automakers use patent designs to stifle competition for aftermarket parts, stating that the fender patent would result in replacement parts that are more expensive and harder to find.
Per Reuters, a spokesperson said that LKQ was pleased with the decision. GM did not comment on the ruling.
Going forward, the full Federal Circuit agreed to rehear LKQ’s argument that the test for obviousness in a patented design was overruled in the 2007 Supreme Court ruling, which rejected rigid formulas for obviousness in patents.
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Comments
well let’s see the dang patent???
Good, they should have never been granted a patent in the first place. There is nothing new, or special about that fender, bumper, light, or any other parts they have been patenting. It’s all just to prevent aftermarket parts supplies, and independent bodyshops, from making parts or doing work.
Actually this helps prevent an onslaught of cheap Chinese panels that don’t fit.
We got a ton of these back in the 80’s and nothing lined up.
GM began to license the parts and suddenly they fit again.
Maybe they should focus more on parts for vehicles we have paid for already. I have a 2018 Silverado and the electric power steering failed as well as the rack and pinion at 62000 miles. We order the part mid January of 2023 and got the the part in latter May of 2023…… installed it and surprise surprise…. it is faulty. I have a truck that is now a 80,000 dollar paperweight that I am still paying a note on, and insurance while GM twiddle their thumbs….. I may just start buying Toyota trucks…… btw… this is my 17th GM and first ever with this crap.
Keff
Do you also not go to your favorite restaurant if they mess up once? You’ve been to the restaurant 100 times and the first time they mess up you’re never going again!?
This 1000%, I never understood this short minded thinking. It just shows the sense of entitlement people have. There is a reason they have kept buying GM (or insert brand here) for so long. It is a mechanical item built with thousands of parts by hundreds of peoples, things are bound to go wrong. The grass isn’t always greener though.
OP, no, they aren’t twiddling their thumbs. They want you to have your part as it does them no good for you not to. Just open your eyes, you do realize what is going on in this world and the economy right? All manufacturers are having problems sourcing parts, suppliers are having issues, transportation is in shambles and labor is harder to source among other things. But yeah, keep blaming them and jump ship for a minor issue not totally in their control.
You have done your due diligence on Toyota right and now just blindly followed fan boys thinking this is the same 1980’s Toyota right? They are in no case a better option these days. But yeah, make that move!
Keep in mind people that I love my 2019 Chevy traverse and the Chevrolet designs but by no means I like a vehicle that is not reliable and I have heard a couple of stories so far so once we the people start looking at other brands maybe someone star to make a more reliable vehicle and treating us better
Jeff why blame the car company when your ordered your vehicle during or after a time in this country when the last thing on most people’s minds was hey I really need that new car.. people lost family members, jobs, income, our country is still changed for the worse since COVID-19… This was an attack on the World economy things where going to well and then BAM we are going to cripple the American and world economy with genocide, if you don’t believe that the rich and wealthy and some crooked people in government did this then there’s your proof your waiting for parts for a car that should have been here already. And C8R good point 👍🏻 did you ever use AutoZone Chinese brakes and they last maybe a year and then you need new ones… My friend is a mechanic and he says you should buy OEM parts if you can and GM or any other company has the God given right to file for a patient! How do you know this not for a newly designed EV car with different fenders!?!?