Second serve: tennis inventions
A fortnight ago our blog looked at all the branding associated with the Wimbledon tennis extravaganza. But, it’s not just trade marks that get a look in when it comes to sporting events.
Patents
Patents protect the features and process that make things work. A patent can only be granted for something that is new and inventive. A patent has to be renewed every year but can last for up to 20 years.
You can’t patent a name
It’s quite disappointing when reading an article in the press that I see “Mr X has applied to patent his name” or “last year 3000 inventions were copyrighted in the UK”.
May the tent be with you
It is all his grandmother’s fault. There’s a Star Wars quality to the sight of half a dozen of his Tentsile tree tents floating mid-air in the woods.
Patent Pending
Patent pending is a term that you will often hear on programmes like Dragons' Den or The Apprentice. It occurs when inventors and entrepreneurs are talking to potential investors or collaborators.
Re-branding Dirt
Creatives and inventives are sometimes characterised as dreamers. Their shared trait is their concern with the edges of experience, not the nitty gritty of reality.
Graphene: the patent landscape in 2015
What links flexible electronics, bulletproof armour, energy storage, supercars and new age tennis rackets? The answer...graphene, the new wonder material according to scientists around the world. Its material properties are staggering.
Thames, Dogger, Fisher: CO2 rising
Traditionally, if you want to predict the future you need two things: a soothsayer and a disembowelled chicken.
Visionary IP partnerships
Joint patents are usually greeted by a sharp intake of breath. Lawyers warn of future conflict. Corporates fear loss of control. Others are more relaxed.
Wheels of creativity
When are Prada, Gucci and Armani going to try their arts on the wheelchair? Creating from the front wheels to the backrest, a glorious fashion statement, rather than an unavoidable announcement of medical need?
Whistle Blowers
There has been a lot of interest in the press recently about whistle blowers, so I thought I would share a story that I heard on Radio 2’s drive time show recently.
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