Pepper - The Friendly Robot

You can meet, Pepper, the four-foot-tall roving android, at the Westfield Malls in San Francisco and Santa Clara where it will be working for the 2016 holiday season.  Pepper is SoftBank Robotics' idea for a robot built to benefit humankind (see https://www.meetpepper.com).  Pepper hasn't had much work in the United States but 7,000 Peppers are in Japan..  

Pepper is protected by trademarks in the United States.  See US Reg. No. 4,920,360 and US Reg. No. 4,813,007.  

Pepper's design was invented by Vincent Clerc who is living in Clamart, France.  You can see all sides of Pepper's claimed design in U.S. Design Patent No. 719,620.

There is much more to Pepper then robotic-good looks.  Check out a sample of the utility patents and patent applications below:

US8997599 MOTORIZED JOINT WITH TWO PIVOT CONNECTIONS AND HUMANOID ROBOT WHICH IMPLEMENTS THE JOINT VIEW PDF

US2015122073 SPINAL COLUMN FOR A HUMANOID ROBOT VIEW PDF

US9429948 HUMANOID ROBOT HAVING FALL-MANAGEMENT CAPABILITIES, AND METHOD FOR MANAGING SAID FALLS VIEW PDF

US2016325437 ACTUATION OF A HAND INTENDED FOR BEING PROVIDED ON A HUMANOID ROBOT VIEW PDF

If you would like to do your own patent search go to www.uspto.gov or google.patents.com and search for ALDEBARAN ROBOTICS the assignee (i.e. owner or company). 

You can see an Japanese advertisement for Pepper below.

Check out more of our blog and books.  Enjoy!

Shark Bait - Episode 804

Shark Tank Season 8's, Episode 4 aired on Friday, October 14, 2016.  The episode features Angels and Tomboys, Atlantic Candy Company, Biem and Solemates.  It also includes an update to a prior funded company The Natural Grip, LLC. 

The Natural Grip

The Natural Grip is a brand of reusable tape grips based on ring finger.  The business was invested in by Robert in Season 6.  Now, two seasons later, the patent described in the episode issued. 

US Patent 9,380,817 is titled Finger Loop Palm Protector and issued on July 5, 2016.  The company was strategic in filing a non-publication request when they submitted the patent application on April 8, 2014.  By doing so, they prevented competitors from potentially designing around their patent before it issued.

In addition, the Natural Grip, LLC has two registered trademarks:  US Reg. No. 4,879,950 for their logo and US Reg. No. 4,879,949 for their brand "THE NATURAL GRIP."

ANGELS and TOMBOYS

Young entrepreneurs selling lotion on Shark Tank.  Clever names and marketing ...  Mark and Daymond can't resist investing in the company for $55K for a 20% stake in the company.

Angels and Tomboys has US Trademark Reg. No. 4,663,490.  On their website, they boast "...paraben free, patent pending, vegan friendly formula...." At a minimum, their formulations are a trade secret and could be kept so until a patent application is published or the patent issues.  

Atlantic Candy Company

The product, Toy Box (below), is exciting and has a solid intellectual property portfolio.  In addition, the company appears to have navigated FDA rules to be the only product like this in the United States.

Unfortunately, for Atlantic Candy Company the product was not picked up by a shark largely because the patents are expiring soon and the product will need to be rushed to market.

Atlantic Candy Company has patent protection but it is going to expire in the next couple of years.  It's patents include US5,925,391 and US6,099,872 but these expire twenty (20) years from the priority date or April 22, 2018.  That leaves less  than two (2) years left in the patent life.

Additionally, there's a pending trademark application for TOY BOX, USSN 87/130,318, and SAFE-CAPSULE is marked with a (TM) on their website to indicate its use as a common law trademark.  

Finally, Atlantic Candy Company has trade secrets around the manufacture of the product that may help extend its competitive advantage when the patents expires.

BIEM

Lori made the deal at $500,000 for 14% equity in the company.  

Brevada Inc. has U.S. and foreign patents pending for their liquified butter sprayer (See US2016184848 and WO2015US68155) and a pending trademark application for BIEM (See USSN 86/869,511).  Also, disclosed on the show is that there is a pending design patent.

Solemates

Shark Tank was all over their website the week leading up to this episode.  That was a good sign that they had been picked up by a shark.  Indeed, Robert was the winning shark having his offer for 20% equity for $500,000 accepted.  

The women behind SOLEMATES have been busy building a business that would impress any shark.  In addition, they've protected it well with with intellectual property.

 They've also acquired a nice trademark portfolio which includes:

US Reg. No. 5038797 SOLEMATES TSDR

US. Reg. No. 4902745 COBBLER'S COUTURE TSDR

US Reg. No. 4385128 STAY HIGH ON GRASS TSDR

US Reg. No. 3745196 BE WELL-HEELED TSDR

US Reg. No. 3664662 HIGH HEELER TSDR

Finally, they have two issued patents:  US8033035 and USD632463.  

The utility patent abstract describes the invention as a slip-on, slip-off stabilizing support accessory for a stiletto heel. 

In addition, an international patent is pending that could extend patent protection to several countries.  (See WO09139788).

Shark Bait - Fizzics - Season 801

fizzics shark bait

September 23, 2016 is the Shark Tank Season 8 series premier.  You can see it on ABC at 9:00 EST/8:00 CDT.  

Fizzics is a product that enhances the flavor of any beer by pressure from ultrasonic waves.  Expect the sharks to ask about the intellectual property that Fizzics has acquired.   

Below is our research into the patents and trademarks that Fizzics Group LLC has pursued.

Patent Portfolio

Fizzics Group LLC markets their product as a patent-pending invention.  However, there is NOTHING in the public domain.  This is either because the patent application was filed less than 18 months ago or that Fizzics Group LLC chose not to publish their patent application.  Without a thorough review, the patent may be too narrow to prevent another competitor from entering the market.  We'll keep a close eye on whether any documents become publicly available.  

Trademark Portfolio  

Fizzes has a healthy trademark portfolio of applications but none have registered as trademarks.  You can follow the links below to review the status of each of the trademark applications.

1 87047822 WAYTAP TSDR LIVE

2 87063042 FIZZICS MICRO-FOAM TSDR LIVE

3 86704682 FIZZICS TSDR LIVE

4 86704697 THE BEST HEAD YOU'VE EVER HAD. TSDR LIVE

5 86972250 BEST HEAD EVER TSDR LIVE

6 86704685 F TSDR LIVE  

7 86704694 THE PHYSICS OF GREAT BEER PREMIUM BEER EVERY TIME FIZZICS TSDR DEAD

8 86704693 PREMIUMIZATION FIZZICS THE PHYSICS BEHIND GREAT BEER F TSDR LIVE

9 86704690 F TSDR DEAD

10 86704684 MAGIC BEER MACHINE TSDR DEAD

11 86774019 POUR YOUR HEART OUT TSDR LIVE

12 86774133 BECAUSE KEGS ARE HEAVY TSDR LIVE