Spectrum Products v. Jie Gao & D Home LLC — $1M Default Judgment for Design Patent Infringement
Spectrum Products LLC secured a default judgment of $1,012,091.52 — three times calculated lost profits — against a network of Amazon sellers infringing its design patent USD925721 covering a magnetic air vent extender. The court also issued a permanent injunction and awarded attorney fees, delivering a near-total plaintiff victory.
Treble damages and permanent injunction in Amazon design-patent dispute
Spectrum Products LLC filed suit in the Arizona District Court in August 2021 against Jie Gao, D Home LLC, Rahome, Ventilaiders, and Jie Hue — a cluster of Amazon marketplace sellers — for infringing design patent USD925721, which covers the ornamental design of a magnetic air vent extender that fits floor registers up to 12.9 inches wide and extends up to 33 inches. The application for the patent was filed on December 1, 2020, and the patent issued on July 20, 2021. Spectrum alleged infringement began as early as January 20, 2021, the date it served defendants with a cease-and-desist letter.
Defendants never appeared in the action. On March 27, 2023, the court granted default judgment on liability and issued a permanent injunction. It reserved damages pending supplemental briefing. On February 1, 2024, Judge Douglas L. Rayes awarded Spectrum $337,363.84 in lost profits — calculated from Jungle Scout sales-tracking data estimating 88 infringing units sold per day over 554 days at a net profit of $6.92 per unit — then tripled that figure under 35 U.S.C. § 284 to $1,012,091.52, finding that defendants’ continued selling after receiving a cease-and-desist letter and their total non-participation in the lawsuit supported a finding of willful infringement.
The 554-day infringement window extends back to pre-patent-issuance activity, which the court permitted under 35 U.S.C. § 154(d) on the basis that Spectrum’s cease-and-desist letter constituted actual notice of the published application — an uncommon but important damages expansion. The case resolved without any substantive defence on the merits; the defendants’ complete failure to respond likely deprived Spectrum of a contested damages trial but also foreclosed any invalidity argument, leaving the patent unchallenged. What remains unknown is whether Spectrum has successfully enforced the injunction or collected on the judgment.
Filing to filing in 900 days
Days from filing (Aug 2021) to final damages order (Feb 2024)
Full party and counsel information
| Role | Name | Type | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plaintiff | Spectrum Products, LLC | Company | Home comfort products company — holder of design patent USD925721Search in Eureka ↗ |
| Defendant | Jie Gao | Company | Network of Amazon marketplace sellers including D Home LLC, Rahome, and VentilaidersSearch in Eureka ↗ |
| Plaintiff counsel | Nathanael Melvin Brown | Attorney | Counsel for Spectrum Products, LLCSearch in Eureka ↗ |
| Presiding judge | Judge Douglas L Rayes | Chief Judge | Arizona District Court — Chief JudgeSearch in Eureka ↗ |
Stipulation of dismissal — official text
The court’s order is unusually comprehensive for a default judgment: it resolves both the pre-issuance damages question under § 154(d) and applies the statutory maximum treble multiplier under § 284 — a combination that is relatively rare in reported decisions. The phrasing ‘actively induced infringement’ under § 271(b) alongside total non-participation provides the willfulness foundation without any contested evidentiary record, which is consistent with how courts treat default posture but leaves the underlying infringement and patent validity completely untested. The permanent injunction’s sweep to ‘persons in active participation’ is the most durable enforcement tool here.
USD925721 — Ornamental design for a magnetic air vent extender
USD925721 is a U.S. design patent covering the ornamental appearance of a magnetic air vent extender designed to attach to floor registers up to 12.9 inches wide and extend airflow up to 33 inches — typically used to direct conditioned air under furniture. The application (US29/760423) was filed December 1, 2020, and the patent issued July 20, 2021. As a design patent, it protects the specific visual appearance of the product, not its functional attributes, making claim scope defined by the patent’s figures rather than written claims.
Design patents in the home comfort and HVAC accessories space are increasingly used as IP enforcement tools against Amazon marketplace competitors because their visual scope is easier to establish in default proceedings than utility patent infringement. USD925721 sits in a product category — floor register extenders — with numerous low-cost competing products, suggesting ongoing enforcement risk for sellers whose products are visually similar to the patented design. The court’s acceptance of the design as valid and infringed on default means competitors have no prior art or invalidity ruling to rely on.
Should you run an FTO against USD925721 before selling vent extenders?
Any company selling magnetic or mechanical floor air vent extenders — particularly those marketed on Amazon or other e-commerce platforms — should conduct a freedom-to-operate analysis against USD925721 before listing. The product category is active, the patent is now judicially confirmed through a default judgment, and the Spectrum v. D Home LLC case establishes that the holder is willing to litigate. Given the court’s acceptance of algorithm-based sales data for damages, a successful infringement claim in this space can rapidly compound into seven-figure exposure.
PatSnap Eureka’s FTO Search Agent allows R&D and product teams to map ornamental similarity across design patent figures, identify related continuation or continuation-in-part applications filed by Spectrum Products, and monitor new design applications in the HVAC accessories class. Setting a claim-change alert on USD925721 and its related family members ensures you receive early warning if Spectrum broadens its design portfolio — before a cease-and-desist letter arrives and the § 154(d) clock starts running.
Run a freedom-to-operate analysis on USD0925721S to assess your product’s exposure
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What this case signals for the Amazon seller IP enforcement landscape
A $1M default judgment built on algorithm-derived sales data sets a replicable playbook for design patent holders targeting e-commerce infringers.
Jungle Scout data is now court-validated as a lost-profits calculation tool
The court accepted Jungle Scout’s algorithmic Amazon sales estimates as a ‘reasonable and fair measure’ of infringement volume. This validates a scalable enforcement methodology: patent holders with Amazon-listed competitors can quantify lost profits without needing access to defendants’ actual sales records. Design patent holders in the home goods, hardware, and consumer products space should take note.
Cease-and-desist letters do double duty — liability notice and pre-issuance damages trigger
Spectrum’s C&D letter sent before patent issuance served as both a litigation evidence anchor and the statutory trigger for § 154(d) provisional rights, extending the compensable infringement window by roughly six months. IP teams filing design applications for fast-moving consumer products should issue application-stage notice letters as standard practice to maximise the eventual damages period.
Spectrum v Jie — key questions answered
The court awarded Spectrum Products $1,012,091.52 in treble damages on February 1, 2024. This figure represents three times Spectrum’s calculated lost profits of $337,363.84, which were derived from Jungle Scout sales estimates of approximately 88 infringing units sold per day over a 554-day infringement period at a net profit of $6.92 per unit.
Under 35 U.S.C. § 154(d), the court allowed damages from January 20, 2021 — before the patent issued on July 20, 2021 — because Spectrum’s cease-and-desist letter of that date constituted actual notice of the published patent application. This extended the compensable infringement window to 554 days rather than the roughly 375 days following patent issuance.
The patent at issue is USD925721 (application number US29/760423), a U.S. design patent covering the ornamental design of a magnetic air vent extender for floor registers. The application was filed December 1, 2020 and the patent issued July 20, 2021.
The court found willful infringement because defendants continued to sell infringing products after receiving a cease-and-desist letter, actively induced infringement under § 271(b), continued selling for close to a year after the lawsuit was filed, and entirely failed to participate in the litigation. Under 35 U.S.C. § 284, these factors supported the maximum treble enhancement.
The permanent injunction, entered March 28, 2023, bars all defendants — Jie Gao, D Home LLC, Rahome, Ventilaiders, and Jie Hue — as well as their officers, agents, servants, employees, attorneys, and any persons in active participation with them, from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing any product infringing USD925721 for the remaining life of the patent.
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