On August 20, 2018, a Federal Circuit panel, in a unanimous decision regarding a design patent application for a shoe bottom design, ruled that Section 112 requirements of enablement and definiteness may be satisfied by a single, 2D plan-view drawing as the ornamental design is capable of being disclosed and judged from such 2D view. In re Maatita, No. 17-2037 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 20, 2018). Applicant Ron Maatita filed a design patent application covering the design of an athletic shoe bottom with two figures showing a plan view of the claimed design. Examiner objected that the two figures were identical except for the unclaimed surrounding environment and rejected the single claim for failing to satisfy the enablement and definiteness requirements of 35 USC 112. Applicant responded that the figures represented the same embodiment and that the omission of certain design elements only affected the breadth of the claim. The examiner again rejected the claim reasoning that the examiner prepared four 3D rendering show different implementation of the 2D view and therefore, the claim failed to satisfy Section 112. The Board affirmed the examiner's decision. In reversing the Board decision, the Federal Circuit reasoned that the shoe design is similar to that of a rug, which is capable of being viewed and understood in two-dimensions through a plan-view illustration.
Full text of the opinion is available here.
Full text of the opinion is available here.
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