PTAB holds three slow-cooker designs unpatentable in rare design patent IPR

Finnegan successfully represented Sensio, Inc. in IPR proceedings involving three design patents directed to triple slow-cooker designs. Sensio established that the claimed designs were in the prior art and countered the patent owner's attempt to antedate the prior art references. After an oral argument, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) found all three patents to be anticipated and obvious in view of prior designs. Finnegan also represented Sensio in the co-pending district court litigation in Kansas, which Finnegan successfully argued should be stayed during the pendency of the IPR proceedings.