IRON GRIP BARBELL COMPANY, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant, and YORK BARBELL COMPANY, INC., Plaintiff, v. USA SPORTS, INC., Defendant-Appellee., 392 F.3d 1317

Summary

After multiple rejections on grounds of obviousness, a patent was eventually issued to the patentee for its weight plate with three elongated grips. Prior art included weight plates with one, two, and four grips. The district court held that the court should look at the overall picture and use common sense to determine the obviousness issue. Although the court of appeals was concerned that such an approach could lead the district court into a trap by the use of hindsight, it affirmed summary judgment. In the instant case, the obviousness did not arise from any combination of elements from the prior art, but because the prior art described a range from one to four elongated handles, and the patented product fell within that range. The prior art suggested that a larger number of elongated grips in exercise weights was beneficial, plainly suggesting that one skilled in the art look to the range appearing in the prior art. There was no indication of any new and unexpected results from the ...