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Brittany Reeves

Law Clerk

Troutman Pepper

Brittany Reeves is a Law Clerk for Troutman Pepper’s Boston office. She graduated from the University of New Hampshire School of Law in May 2023.

Recent Articles by Brittany Reeves

‘Obvious Over What?’ LKQ’s En Banc Petition Threatens to Turn Test for Design Patent Obviousness on its Head

Just like utility patents, design patents can be found obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103 by combining prior art references. But the test for obviousness for design patents differs from the more familiar standards for utility patents. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently reaffirmed this distinction, but the issue is far from resolved. A long line of Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) actions between LKQ and GM Global Technologies escalated to the Federal Circuit, where LKQ submitted an argument seeking to fundamentally change the obviousness analysis for design patents.