Shark Bait - Episode 806
Shark Tank Season 8's, Episode 6 featured Lulu Bang, Potato Parcel, Sunscreenr, UnPack and Grace & Lace. The episode aired on Friday, October 28, 2016.
LULU BANG
Additionally, they have a pending trademark application: US 86/858,572 for JOYCE'S SOULFUL CUISINE LULU BANG.
The sharks decided not to invest in their company despite sales in Walmart and ShopRite. However, they did encourage them to continue building their brand.
As one of their first steps, Joyce and her sister may want to consider filing another application for just the name LULU BANG instead of the full name Joyce's Soulful Cuisine Lulu Bang.
POTATO PARCEL
Potato Parcel may be fun to receive in the mail. However, it's unclear what could prevent another competitor or anyone with a potato from copying them.
There aren't any patent or federal trademark applications filed.
Despite clearly indicated in a hand-write potato to Mr. Wonderful that there is nothing proprietary about their business, Kevin O'Leary invested simply to ride out the fad that could result from the airing of Potato Parcel on Shark Tank.
SUNSCREENR
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there's patent protection behind this little device. Unfortunately, there's no patent publication to examine the extent of patent coverage.
In addition, the company behind the Sunscreener, Voxeleight, LLC, has trademark applications pending, including:
1 87012403 SUNSCREENR TSDR LIVE
Aaron Liskov and Andrew Zahornacky pitch UnPack to the sharks. UnPack is a service that delivers a suitcase full of clothes to your travel destination. When your stay is over, you leave the suitcase for UnPack pickup.
How do you protect a service like this through intellectual property?
Patent protection will be difficult to obtain for the business method.
There's no formula to protect with a trade secret and not much more than a website to copyright.
The best bet is to build a brand...which starts with a great name and eventually leads to a registered trademark application. UnFortunately for UnPack, a trademark registration for their name has not been filed.
The sharks chose not to invest in UnPack. Rather than specifically asking whether their was any intellectual property, the sharks noted that their business was not thought through. Intellectual property protection is often a way to demonstrate that you have thought through how you can protect your business from others.
Grace and Lace
Melissa and Rick Hinnant brought Grace and Lace knee-high boot socks to Shark Tank in Season 5. Barbara invested in 10% of the company for $175,000. In five days after appearing on Shark Tank, the couple had one-million in sales and the year following had $6.5 million in sales.
They've built a great brand and have the following trademark applications and registrations in the United States:
1 87011946 G&L TSDR LIVE
2 86151192 4592133 GRACE CAMO & LACE TSDR LIVE
3 85812464 4395308 GRACE AND LACE TSDR LIVE
4 79187951 GRACE LOVES LACE THE UNIQUE BRIDE TSDR LIVE