"I worked through several rejections in detail to see whether examiners are pushing into prior art that the old framework would have blocked. Some are. Aristocrat's slot-machine GUI was rejected over a structurally different primary, and TOP"
Design patent §103 rejection rates have stayed flat at roughly 1% through Hague System disposals for two years after LKQ. A comparison of about 150 pre-LKQ obviousness rejections from 2023 with about 150 post-LKQ rejections from January 2025 through April 2026 shows that examiners no longer cite Rosen or other pre-LKQ precedent. About 80% of pre-LKQ rejections cited Rosen or an equivalent case, while 0% of post-LKQ rejections did. Verbal markers tied to the Rosen primary-reference test and Durling-era “so related” language largely disappeared. New dominant phrases include “visually similar” and “overall appearance,” while LKQ is rarely cited and KSR is not cited. Nearly 90% of post-LKQ rejections cite no obviousness precedent at all.
#design-patents #obviousness-35-usc-103 #hague-system #federal-circuit-lkq-decision #patent-examination-practice
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