IP / Regulatory Law Watch Columbia Settles Ten-Year Reflective Clothes Design-Patent Fight Columbia Sportswear and Seirus Innovative Accessories have reached a settlement ending their decade-long legal battle. This battle was over Columbia’s design patent for a wavy, heat-reflective fabric pattern. The dispute centered on Columbia’s design patent D657,093, which the company said Seirus infringed through its “HeatWave” products. Over the years, the case went through multiple trials and appeals, however, the recent Patent Office review that reaffirmed the design patent’s validity was what caused this most recent settlement. Although the terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed, the agreement closes a high-profile fight that helped and will continue to help shape discussions around how design patents are evaluated. In particular are the role of logos, prior art, and the “ordinary observer” test. The case also highlights how ornamental design features in apparel can lead to complex and long-running intellectual-property disputes. From the Supreme Court’s decision in Gorham, an ordinary observer is: “[I]f, in the eye of an ordinary observer, giving such attention as a purchaser usually gives, two designs are substantially the same, if the resemblance is such as to deceive such an observer, inducing him to purchase one supposing it to be the other, the first one patented is infringed by the other.” (Gorham Co. v. White, 81 U.S. (14 Wall.) 511, 528 (1871)) For more information: | 
