LG loses patent claims against Whirlpool for fridge designs

A home appliance company has been told it should not have been given patents for its ice-dispensing refrigerators, meaning its rival did not infringe its designs.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) ruled in favour of Whirlpool Corp (Whirlpool) in its battle with LG Electronics (LG).

LG had claimed Whirlpool’s design for a fridge with French-style doors and an ice maker infringed one of its patents.

But Whirlpool said it had not infringed arguing that the design should not have been patentable in the first place, a claim which was initially supported by the USPTO.

LG appealed but, on Tuesday, August 21, a three-judge panel, sitting as part of an inter partes examination, re-affirmed that the patent should not have been granted.

It said the patent, (US patent number 7,520,139.) was for an “obvious” design trait relating to how ice should travel through the appliance on its way to the outside of the door.

“One of ordinary skill in the art would have only so many places to position an ice passageway on an ice compartment — namely on the sides, top or bottom thereof,” the panel wrote.

It adds,  “ … positioning an ice passageway through a front of the insulating walls, as opposed to any other part of the insulating walls of an ice compartment, would have been obvious.”

The ruling renders the LG patent invalid meaning that Whirlpool could not have infringed it.

Larry Meier, chair of the IP group at Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC, in Burlington, Vermont, said:  “The USPTO has declared the design was not patentable and that it made a mistake when granting it, which, in effect invalidates it.

“It seems like it [the USPTO] was thorough in its ruling and had reasonable basis for the conclusion.”

LG has a month to file for a rehearing of and, if unsuccessful, can also pursue an appeal through the federal courts.

Meier added : “My hunch is that LG will request a re-hearing, which will likely be rejected and then continue to the federal court system. It’s hard to assess what the result will be there but statistically they would probably struggle to win.”

LG and Whirlpool both declined to comment.