Krippelz v. Ford Motor Co., No. 11-1103 (Fed. Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CaseIn 1989 Krippelz filed for a patent on a vehicle-mounted lamp, titled "Emergency Light" and describing a lamp attached to the side view mirror of an automobile and shining downward. He offered a license to Ford, which was not interested, but in 1997 began offering an option known as a "puddle light," a lamp, attached to the vehicle's side view mirror, that shone light generally downward. In 2008 the district court entered summary judgment finding infringement and awarded $56 million. The Federal Circuit reversed as to validity, vacated other rulings, and remanded for entry of a judgment of non-liability. The district court erred in finding the patent novel over prior art.
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