Contraband Sports LLC sells workout products, including its gloves for use in weight lifting. Fit Four LLC sent a notice of intellectual property rights violation to Amazon alleging the Contraband’s gloves infringed Fit Four’s Design patent D652,607 (the ‘607 patent). This resulted in Amazon taking down Contraband’s gloves from Amazon, “during the busy holiday season and less than one week before Christmas.”
Contraband filed suit for declaratory judgement that its gloves do not infringe the ‘607 patent. The complaint asserted the following differences, among others, between its glove and the ‘607 patent:
The ‘607 patent provides mostly plain surfaces on the front and back of the glove. Contraband’s gloves includes a number of design features that are absent from the ‘607 patent.
The ordinary observer test is applied in design …