Upcoming ABA Roundtable - Design Patent and Trade Dress Litigation: More than Meets the Eye

As 2014 comes to a close, we wanted to make design patent practitioners and enthusiasts aware of an important upcoming ABA webinar regarding design patent litigation.  The webinar, titled Design Patent and Trade Dress Litigation: More than Meets the Eye, will take place on January 21, 2015 from 1:00 E.T. - 2:00 E.T.  The webinar is free and is being presented by the ABA Intellectual Property Litigation Committee.  The speaker will be Christopher V. Carani, a recent guest blogger for the Ordinary Observer.  Participants may register using the above hyperlink. 

This promises to be an important and valuable webinar for any practitioner who is currently or may ever be involved in a design patent litigation.  In my experience, attorneys tend to underestimate the nuanced style of litigation that is required in a design patent case.  Applying the techniques and themes learned from utility patent litigation will often lead to undesirable results.  Many attorneys have learned, through trial and error (literally), that design patent litigation is a very different animal.  Even seasoned utility patent litigators will benefit from a overview of the tactical distinctions between utility patent litigation and design patent litigation, which is becoming a more important tool in the intellectual property arsenal of many of our clients.  

Here is the program description from the ABA website:

Design Patent and Trade Dress Litigation: More than Meets the Eye:

From the design houses of New York City, to the storied industrial design firms of 

Chicago, to the cutting-edge think tanks of Silicon Valley, the desire for effective and enforceable design protection is at an all-time high. Simply put, looks matter. Recently released statistics show that applicants are securing U.S. design patents at record rates. With more design patents issued, there also has been a marked uptick in design patent litigation filings. While design patents share much in common with utility patents and trade dress, they have significant and distinct differences from those rights, which if not understood, can present unique traps for the unwary when it comes to litigation. In this CLE, leading Design IP attorney Christopher V. Carani will discuss design patent-specific litigation issues, including best practices for asserting, and defending against, claims of design patent infringement, the design patent infringement standard, design patent claim construction, the ins and outs of design patent drawings, design patent defenses of prosecution history estoppel, anticipation, obviousness, indefiniteness. Along the way, Mr. Carani also will offer insights and strategies for cases involving both trade dress and design patent infringement claims. 

Speaker: Christopher V. Carani is a partner at the Chicago-based intellectual property law firm of McAndrews, Held & Malloy, Ltd. For over 15 years, Chris has been a leading voice in the field of Design IP, which regards the intersection of design rights, trade dress and copyright law.  Chris counsels clients on strategic design enforcement and protection issues; he is often called upon to render infringement, validity and design-around opinions and serve as a legal consultant/expert in Design IP cases.  Carani has extensive experience litigating Design IP cases.