Lanard Toys Limited v. Dolgencorp LLC, JA-RU,
Inc., Toys "R" US-Delaware, Inc. (Fed. Cir.
2020)
In a recent precedential opinion, the Federal Circuit noted that
the district court followed the Federal Circuit's "claim
construction directives to a tee." Here, the design
patent at issue contained both functional and non-functional
elements. Accordingly, litigants or potential litigants
involving design patents having functional and non-functional
elements are encouraged to review this decision to better
understand the scope of enforcement of the at-issue design
patent(s).
Lanard Toys ("Lanard") obtained U.S. Design Patent No.
D671,167 (the "D167 patent") and began selling a toy
chalk holder to Dolgencorp LLC ("Dolgencorp") and Toys
"R" US-Delaware ("TRU"). JA-RU, Inc.
("JA-RU") subsequently began selling its toy chalk holder
to Dolgencorp and TRU. Lanard brought suit in the Middle
District of Florida and, among other claims, asserted design
