Lear wins bout in patent suit over garage opener

WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Lear Corp (LEA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) won a round in a patent suit filed by Chamberlain Group over a garage door opener called Car2U on Tuesday in a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

The court, which hears patent cases, overturned a lower court's preliminary injunction that had barred Lear from selling the remote control garage opener, although the lower court had made an exception so that Lear was allowed to fill contracts with General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

But the appeals court said Chamberlain Group's patent specified that the encryption code was "binary", meaning it used two symbols, while Lear Corp's transmitter used a "trinary code" or three symbols. (Reporting by Diane Bartz, Editing by Toni Reinhold)