Sarah FackrellRachel Adin LLC sues H&M over jewelry, neither side seems to have any idea how design patents work: https://www.scribd.com/document/695487112/Adin-v-H-M-Complaint
First of all, the plaintiff seems to fundamentally misunderstand the entire concept of design patent scope. Yes, the verbal part of the patent claim says its a design for a "jewelry article." But that doesn't mean it automatically covers any article of jewelry. The shapes still have to be the same.
The earrings and the chunky choker might be said to embody the larger design patent concept but their shapes are totally different. There is no way they infringe. Not even close.
Casey Hewitt@design_law Could you patent a pattern? Like claim an inch and disclaim the rest? (Not that I support such trickery…)
@hewittlaw Yes, you could. And the Federal Circuit wouldn't even consider it trickery. See https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3539149
I think Zahn is wrong but, as long as we live in a Zahn word, patentees who fail to take advantage of dotted-line claiming have to live with the consequences.