Chicago Judge Lifts Injunction in Bike Wall Hanger Design Patent Case

By Ozan Attas

Photo: RonPorter / Pixabay

A federal judge in Chicago has dissolved a preliminary injunction that had blocked an Amazon seller from selling adjustable bicycle wall hangers. In an opinion and order dated 14 October 2026, Judge Sara L. Ellis of the Northern District of Illinois found that the design patent owner was unlikely to prove infringement (case 1:24-cv-13141).

The patent at issue is US Design Patent D982,486, granted in April 2023 for the ornamental look of an adjustable bike wall hanger. Its owner, an individual inventor, first sued 34 defendants in December 2024. After the court raised questions about joining so many parties, the amended complaint of March 2025 targeted a single Amazon storefront. A temporary restraining order followed in May 2025 and a preliminary injunction in July 2025, both granted before the seller had appeared in the case.

The turning point was an earlier ex parte reexamination at the USPTO. The examiner found that the accused hanger shares several elements with the patented design, including twin hooks, a telescoping beam, an adjustment slot, a central hinge and an end plate. But its wall bracket is plainer than the patent's ornate, almost Victorian outline, and the office held that this gap was more than trivial, so the seller's earlier product did not anticipate the design. The patent survived reexamination unchanged. According to Patent Litigator, a second request was refused on 31 August 2026.

Judge Ellis reasoned that because the injunction had been entered without the seller present, the patent owner carried the burden of justifying it. Since the test for anticipating a design patent mirrors the test for infringing one, the differences already recognised by the USPTO left the owner short of the strong showing of likely success needed to keep the order in place. She also rejected the argument that the seller had waited too long, after more than a year of litigation, to ask for relief.

For rights holders who use mass-defendant filings in Chicago, the ruling is a reminder that an injunction won before the other side appears can be revisited once the full record, including the patent office's own findings, is in front of the court.

Sources

• Opinion and Order, Pang v. Dirza Direct, No. 1:24-cv-13141 (N.D. Ill. 14 Oct 2026), full text via Midpage
• Patent Litigator, "Judge Ellis Dissolves Preliminary Injunction Against Amazon Seller ... in Bike Wall Hanger Design Patent Case" (22 Oct 2026)
• Bloomberg Law, "Amazon Retailer Erases Injunction in Bike Hanger Patent Dispute" (15 Oct 2026)