Parker v. Kimberly-Clark Corp., No. 11 C 5658, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Jan. 10, 2012) (Kendall, J.).
Judge Kendall granted defendant Kimberly-Clark’s Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) motion and dismissed plaintiff’s design patent complaint to a sanitary napkin. Based upon a side-by-side comparison of the design patent and the accused sanitary napkin, the Court held that the differences between the two products were so significant that an ordinary observer would find the products to be sufficiently distinct so as not to infringe. Similarly, an ordinary observer knowledgeable about the prior art would conclude that the two products were not sufficiently similar. As a result, the Court held that no reasonable jury could find for plaintiff.