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ARTICLE · 18 OCTOBER 2021

Patent Case Summaries | Week Ending October 8, 2021

Alston & Bird
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In re: SurgiSil, L.L.P., et al., No. 2020-1940 (Fed. Cir. (PTAB) Oct. 4, 2021). Opinion by Moore, joined by Newman and O'Malley.

United StatesIntellectual Property
Kirk T. Bradley
Kirk T. Bradley
Karlee Wroblewski
Karlee Wroblewski

A weekly summary of the precedential patent-related opinions issued by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the opinions designated precedential or informative by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

In re: SurgiSil, L.L.P., et al., No. 2020-1940 (Fed. Cir. (PTAB) Oct. 4, 2021). Opinion by Moore, joined by Newman and O'Malley.

SurgiSil filed a design patent application that claims an "ornamental design for a lip implant as shown and described." The application contains one figure, and the figure depicts a lip implant. The examiner rejected the application as anticipated by the "Blick" reference, which discloses an art tool called a stump. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board affirmed the examiner's rejection, finding that the differences in shape between the claimed design and Blick are minor. In its analysis, the Board found it "appropriate to ignore the identification of the article of manufacture in the claim language." SurgiSil appealed.

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