SAN FRANCISCO — Low-technology companies that rely heavily on patented designs, ranging from Crocs footwear to Kohler kitchen and bath products, are lining up behind Apple’s demand that Samsung disgorge all of its profits from infringing Apple’s smartphone design.
“For companies in industries such as footwear, apparel, accessories, and appliances (to name a few), design can be everything—the differentiator in the market, the driver of sales, and the lifeblood of the company,” Faegre Baker Daniels partner Natalie Hanlon-Leh wrote in an amicus curiae brief filed Thursday at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
