Grand General Accessories Manufacturing v. United Pacific Industries Inc.

Order (1) Granting Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment in Part (Dkt. No. Ill); (2) Denying Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment in Part (Dkt. No. 103)

Before the Court is Plaintiff Grand General Accessories Manufacturing (“GGAM”)’s Motion for Summary Judgment as to patent validity, patent infringement, and trade dress infringement, and Defendants United Pacific Industries, Inc. (“UPI”) and Lucidity Enterprise Co. (“Lucidity”) (together “Defendants”)’ Motion for Summary Judgment on all claims.

Plaintiff owns a number of design patents related to automotive stop/tail/turn (“S/T/T”) lights. The feature uniting GGAM’s line of S/T/T lights is a light bulb reflector that the parties refer to as the “web comb design.” The design consists of multiple facets arranged in a grid-like manner on the inner surface of a parabolic reflector, with a light bulb resting in the center of the reflector. GGAM claimed the web comb design (displayed below) in U.S. Design Patent No. 463,590 (the “'590 Patent”), issued in 2002.

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According to GGAM, its entire series of S/T/T lights is an expansion of the basic design disclosed in the '590 Patent (described in the application as a…