Another Fender-Bender Between LKQ And GM

We have covered the LKQ v. GM design patent disputes from the PTAB decision through appeal and en banc rehearing. And now we report on yet another chapter in the saga between these parties.

Background. LKQ and GM took an earlier dispute all the way to the en banc Federal Circuit, who changed long-settled design patent obviousness law by overruling the decades-old Rosen-Durling test for obviousness and replacing it with a more flexible standard under KSR v. Teleflex and Graham v. John Deere. Whether and how the new LKQ standard impacts the obviousness analysis remains a developing area of law as courts apply the new rules. And a recent summary judgment decision that arose in another LKQ v. GM dispute highlights some of the contours of the new doctrine, particularly in the automotive design space.