Racing Strollers, Inc. v. Tri Industries, Inc.
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
878 F.2d 1418, 11 U.S.P.Q.2d 1300 (1989)
- Written by Eric Miller, JD
Facts
In April 1986, Racing Strollers, Inc. (Racing) filed a divisional application—i.e., an application made to preserve a claim that was split off from a parent application—for a design patent on a baby-stroller frame. The parent application, filed in October 1984 and later abandoned, had been for a utility patent. The design patent issued in September 1988. Racing Strollers brought an infringement suit against Tri Industries, Inc. (Tri) (defendant) in federal district court. Racing Strollers admitted to selling strollers with the patented design more than a year before the April 1986 application for the design patent. However, Racing Strollers argued that the on-sale bar did not apply, because the April 1986 application was entitled to the October 1984 filing date. Tri cited an earlier case, In re Campbell, 212 F.2d 606 (C.C.P.A. 1954), as standing for the proposition that a design-patent application could not be a division of a non-design-patent application. This holding was contradicted by other caselaw. Unsure how to proceed, the trial judge certified the question to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Rich, J.)
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