Federal Circuit Affirms Jury’s Invalidity Ruling Against Glamourmom’s Nursing Garment Patent

Holding:

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed a jury’s determination that plaintiff-appellant Line Rothman’s patent for a nursing garment that had invisible support for nursing mothers was invalid for being obvious. The Federal Circuit explained that a particular manner in which an invention is actually made does not necessarily negate patentability. In this case, however, the Federal Circuit saw the simple inventive process used by Rothman as evidence of the predictability and expectations in this field of art. In so stating, the Federal Circuit found no reason to disturb the obviousness holding since a person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine an existing tank top with an existing nursing bra to arrive at the claimed invention. Further, the Federal Circuit reversed the jury finding of inequitable conduct. The Federal Circuit reasoned that while the law prohibits genuine misrepresentations of material fact, a prosecuting attorney is free to present arguments in favor of patentability without fear of committing inequitable conduct. The Federal Circuit found no basis to find deceptive intent in the arguments of plaintiff-appellant or his attorney.

Detailed Summary:

By jury verdict, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey found claims 1, 5, and 12 of U.S. Patent No. 6,855,029 (“the ‘029 patent”) invalid. Opinion, p. 2.

In addition, the jury declined to find infringement by defendant-appellee Motherwear International (“Motherwear”). The jury also found the ‘029 patent unenforceable due to inequitable conduct. The district court sustained the jury’s verdict on all counts, denying Ms. Rothman’s and Glamourmom LLC’s (“Glamourmom’s”) motions for judgment as a matter of law (“JMOL”) and awarded costs to defendants-appellees. Id., citing Rothman v. Target Corp., Civ. No. 05-4829, slip op. at *1-2…

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