Lippert Components has won a round in its fight with a rival maker of RV parts, when the Patent Trial and Appeal Board last week cut down part of a patent covering a leveling system for RVs, according to the legal website Law360.
The board, in a final decision, said Lippert had shown in inter partes review that the challenged claims in Days Corp.’s patent are invalid because they are both anticipated and made obvious by earlier inventions, according to the website. The board also refused to allow Days to amend the patent.
Days and Lippert are in-state rivals, each making leveling systems that can be used when RVs are parked on uneven ground. Their patent dispute spilled into court in March 2017, when Days filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of Indiana accusing Lippert of infringement.
In the complaint, Days also sought a court order that it did not infringe two patents that belong to Lippert unit Innovative Design Solutions. IDS quickly filed a separate lawsuit, asserting those same two patents against Days, according to Law360. The cases have been consolidated.
Lippert’s PTAB challenge relied on two patents that were issued in the 1990s, years before Days filed its application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, according to Law360. The PTAB agreed with Lippert that these patents anticipated and made obvious the challenged claims.
Read more: https://www.law360.com/articles/1202255/ptab-axes-part-of-rv-leveling-patent-in-rivals-dispute
