Sport Dimension, Inc. v. Coleman Co., Inc., No. 15-1553 (Fed. Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseColeman sells an array of products, including personal flotation devices and owns the D714 patent, which claims “[t]he ornamental design for a personal flotation device” with two arm bands connected to a torso piece. The torso piece is flat on its back and tapers toward a connecting strap on its sides. Sport Dimension sells water-sports-related equipment, including its Body Glove® line of personal flotation devices, which also have two armbands connected to a torso piece. Unlike Coleman’s design, the torso section in the Body Glove® device extends upwards to form a vest that goes over a person’s shoulders. Sport Dimension sought a declaratory judgment that it did not infringe the D714 patent and that the patent is invalid. The district court excluded Coleman’s expert, stating that he “appears to possess substantial experience in the field of industrial design … [but] has no substantive experience in the narrower field of personal flotation device design” and entered judgment of noninfringement. The Federal Circuit affirmed exclusion of the expert, but vacated the judgment, rejecting the district court’s claim construction, which eliminated several features of Coleman’s claimed design, specifically the armbands and the side torso tapering.
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