Crocs Inc. won a reversal of obviousness and noninfringement findings involving its patented shoes Feb. 24, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned the International Trade Commission’s findings (Crocs Inc. v. International Trade Commission).
Crocs holds both utility and design patents on its popular shoes, and the court addressed issues as to each, but its focus was on the design patent. Further, the court applied its recent Egyptian Goddess rulings on design patents in the context of the ITC’s “domestic industry” query, and reversed the ITC’s judgment on that ground as well.
Notable, though, ...