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just reminded by the Dvice thread of a few examples where patents were & weren't a great help
1/ Dyson and his vacuum cleaner
Interestingly the vortex cleaner wasn't a new idea; applying it to domestic vaccum cleaners was. If Dyson had not had a small fortune (from his BallBarrow invention) he would not have been able to defend his patent in court (from the very same large firms who had shown no interest in it until he was successfully selling them).
He had the money, he was prepared to spend it on lawyers, his product is a very big success
2/ Breakaway &/or Gemini . Somebody (I'm sorry I forget whether it was Nigel Forrest or Tony Caton) did an interview in one of the Sea Angling magazines where he said they are no longer bothering to protect patents - with "offshore" copyrats and distribution systems like fleabay it is impractical to protect your profits on small items.
Instead they are concentrating on coming up with brand new ideas and moving quickly on after the first few hundred thousand sales to something else the "copyrats" haven't thought of yet.
It's just our good luck that they don't stop making things like the impact shield as soon as they have illegal (and often subtly inferior) competition
3/ that plastic 'valve' with a cross-cut in it in squeezable bottles (e.g. of honey or sauce). I remember hearing the woman who invented it for baby feed bottles saying how the established manufacturers turned her away, yet as soon as she had got through the slog of getting it stocked in places and it was selling well they simply copied it without any permission or consultation.
She just managed to protect her right, but only just.
So spare a thought for those inventors of little items of tackle who bring them to you - it's not all easy money (come to think of it , none of it is easy )
1/ Dyson and his vacuum cleaner
Interestingly the vortex cleaner wasn't a new idea; applying it to domestic vaccum cleaners was. If Dyson had not had a small fortune (from his BallBarrow invention) he would not have been able to defend his patent in court (from the very same large firms who had shown no interest in it until he was successfully selling them).
He had the money, he was prepared to spend it on lawyers, his product is a very big success
2/ Breakaway &/or Gemini . Somebody (I'm sorry I forget whether it was Nigel Forrest or Tony Caton) did an interview in one of the Sea Angling magazines where he said they are no longer bothering to protect patents - with "offshore" copyrats and distribution systems like fleabay it is impractical to protect your profits on small items.
Instead they are concentrating on coming up with brand new ideas and moving quickly on after the first few hundred thousand sales to something else the "copyrats" haven't thought of yet.
It's just our good luck that they don't stop making things like the impact shield as soon as they have illegal (and often subtly inferior) competition
3/ that plastic 'valve' with a cross-cut in it in squeezable bottles (e.g. of honey or sauce). I remember hearing the woman who invented it for baby feed bottles saying how the established manufacturers turned her away, yet as soon as she had got through the slog of getting it stocked in places and it was selling well they simply copied it without any permission or consultation.
She just managed to protect her right, but only just.
So spare a thought for those inventors of little items of tackle who bring them to you - it's not all easy money (come to think of it , none of it is easy )