by Dennis Crouch
CeramTec GmbH v. CoorsTek Bioceramics LLC, (formerly known as C5 Medical Werks, LLC)
CeramTec GmbH has requested a 30-day extension to file a petition for certiorari in its dispute with CoorsTek Bioceramics LLC over pink ceramic hip implants, setting up what could be a significant Supreme Court review of the intersection between expired utility patents and trademark protection. The case presents a fairly clean vehicle for resolving a circuit split over the proper interpretation of TrafFix Devices, Inc. v. Marketing Displays, Inc., 532 U.S. 23 (2001).
In TrafFix, the Court held that when features are claimed in an (expired) utility patent, this constitutes “strong evidence” that those claimed features are functional and thus ineligible for trademark protection. In CeramTec, the Federal Circuit took this holding a step further — holding that a feature (pink coloration) that could result from practicing an expired patent was presumptively functional, regardless of whether the patent actually teaches advantages for that specific feature.
