Federal Circuit Rebuffs SAD Scheme Plaintiff–Shenzhen Jisu v. Annex A Defendants

Nomenclature note: This is an Annex A case, not a Schedule A case, but they are the same thing. Snarky note about design patents: This is a design patent case. I don’t mean any disrespect towards design patent aficionados, but design patent cases typically feel like Calvinball to me. This one does too. * * * Shenzhen Jisu has a design patent (D886,982) for a foldable fan: Shenzhen Jisu asserted the design patent against many online merchants in a SAD Scheme case. As usual, it got an ex parte TRO and then sought a preliminary injunction. Several defendants appeared to contest the PI, but the court granted the PI anyway. In the interim, the USPTO issued a new design patent (D1,046,104) to a third party that cites D886,982 as prior art. The ‘104 issuance indicates that the USPTO thought that the designs were sufficiently distinguishable to authorize the patent. I’m no expert on foldable fans, but the major difference appears to be that Shenzhen Jisu’s design rotates the cover vertically…