This morning, the Federal Circuit released a precedential opinion in a design patent case appealed from a district court and a nonprecedential opinion in a veterans case appealed from the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. The Federal Circuit also released three nonprecedential orders dismissing appeals. Here are the introductions to the opinions and links to the dismissals.
Top Brand LLC v. Cozy Comfort Company LLC (Precedential)
Top Brand and Cozy Comfort compete in the market of oversized hooded sweatshirts. Cozy Comfort owns U.S. Design Patent No. D859,788 (the “D788 patent”) and two trademarks for the “THE COMFY” for goods and services relating to blanket throws. Top Brand sought declaratory relief of noninfringement of the design patent. Cozy Comfort counterclaimed for infringement of the design patent and trademarks. After trial, the jury found infringement of both the patent and the trademarks. The district court denied judgment as a matter of law (“JMOL”) to Top Brand and entered judgment on the jury verdict.
We hold that the principles of prosecution history disclaimer apply to design patents and that Top Brand was entitled to JMOL of noninfringement of the design patent because the accused infringing design was within the scope of the subject matter surrendered during prosecution. We also conclude that substantial evidence does not support the jury’s verdict of trademark infringement. We therefore reverse.
Latham v. Collins (Nonprecedential)
Benjamin Latham, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, appeals a decision of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims denying Mr. Latham’s request to suspend action by the Secretary. Because we lack jurisdiction to review such non-final decisions of the Veterans Court, we dismiss.