Amini Sues Yuan Tai Enterprises - Again

Amini Innovation Corporation ("AICO") filed suit on June 30, 2014 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California (AICO's home court) again Yuan Tai Enterprises, Inc., a Texas corporation. The lawsuit involves two of several tools available to furniture manufacturers to defend its designs: namely patents and copyright. AICO is suing Yuan Tai again after Yuan Tai allegedly violated a 2007 agreement that settled earlier litigation. AICO is suing on 21 copyright registrations and 14 design patents. This approach highlights the one-two punch that copyright registrations and design patents provide. While the scope of protection under the copyright registrations may overlap with the design patent protection, there is a different standard for infringement (substantially similar (copyright) versus whether a consumer would confuse one with the other (design patent)). Armed with both copyright registrations and  design patents, a furniture manufacturer has potentially strong tools at its disposal to enforce its rights. The case is:  Amini Innovation Corporation v. Yuan Tai Furniture, Inc. a/k/a Yuan Tai Enterprises, Inc., Case No. 2:14-cv-05071. An image of one of the protected AICO pieces is shown below: