Shark Bait - Episode 805

Shark Tank Season 8's, Episode 5 featured Parker Maple, Safe Grabs, Sandilake Clothing, and Silidog.  The episode aired on October 21, 2016.

Parker Maple

Josh Parker, an 18 year-old entrepreneur,  offers a line of products made from maple syrup.  One particularly innovative product is Parker's Maple Cotton Candy.  The question is whether he can build a brand that can stand out against all of the other maple syrup producers.

Parker Maple Farms, LLC filed their first trademark application (USSN 87/188,405) on September 29, 2016 for the goods Maple Butter.  The mark consists of the word "Parker's" in golden-beige stylized script above the words "maple" and "butter" in black standard characters above an inverted golden-beige fanciful maple leaf design, the stem of the maple leaf being a downward continuation, between the word "maple" and the word "butter," of the vertical portion of th letter "k" in the word "Parker's.  This was selected as the first trademark filing because this product is on-sale at Costco.

No sharks picked up Parker but encouraged Josh to continue forging ahead with the business.

Safe Grabs

Entrepreneur Cyndi Lee rebranded her product from Micro Easy Grab to Safe Grabs.  She's been in the market with Micro Easy Grab since 2013 and filed her trademark application for Safe Grabs on October 6, 2016.  She also has Patent Pending marked on her package and states this is for the design and shape of the silicon tray.  Lori will now partner with her to get her into Bed, Bath and Beyond and other retailers.

Her trademarks:

US Trademark Application USSN 87/190,921 for SAFE GRABS 

US Trademark Reg. No. 4,539,428 for MICRO EASY GRAB 

SandiLake Clothing

Entrepreneur Melissa Lay filed her trademark application for SandiLake Clothing on October 7, 2016 (See USSN 87/196,275).   She also appears to bring unique graphics to her clothing which have copyright protection associated with it.             

SiliDog

The company has a good idea - dog tags that don't jingle.  This product is made of durable colorful silicon and is ready for the market.

The SiliDog trademark (U.S. Reg. No. 4,557,447) is protecting the product.  New trademark applications include SILENT IDENTIFICATION, USSN 86/057,088 and GET SILI, USSN 86/057,110.  Unfortunately, trademark will protect the brand but won't prevent another company from entering the market.    

If the company would like to further protect the product, a patent or patent pending could provide some deterrence  to another wanting to enter a similar product.

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 - Episode 803

Shark Bait - Episode 803

Shark Tank Season 8's, Episode 3 featured Night Runner 270, Raising Wild, Tekdry and The Cookie Kahuna.  Below is summary of the intellectual property owed by each company and which were funded by a shark.

Night Runner 270

Headlights for your running shoes!  This product is a pair of light weight, water-resistant LED lights that clip on to shoes and illuminate the area 30 feet in front of a runner with a 270 degree light beam.

Doug Storer, co-inventor, states that he has a utility patent pending in the United States claiming the product's adjustable clip, bi-lateral symmetry and rechargeable battery.  There are no patents or patent applications currently published at the USPTO.  This is not surprising given that utility patent applications don't publish until 18 months after filing and design patents don't publish unless the patent is granted.

Previously, a trademark for NIGHT RUNNER was applied for without the 270 (See 86/492,247 NIGHT RUNNER) but this application was abandoned.  Doug states that NIGHT RUNNER 270 is now being used as the source identifier.  Additionally, he mentions another product that was planned on the episode, NIGHT SHIFT, for those who work in the dark and need to illuminate their steps for occupational safety.

Renata and Doug Storer came in seeking $250k for a 10% stake in the company.  With four out of five sharks bidding to be an investor, the company played their cards with Robert being chosen by the company to invest $250k for a 15% stake plus $100k as a loan.

RAISING WILD

Raising Wild sports a line of swimwear that allows for full day comfort in and out of the water.  The owners have an established domain name but have not pursued federal trademark protection for their brand.

Raising Wild was picked up by Barbara.   In exchange for $100,000 and credit lines of cash, Barbara now has a 50% stake in the company.  Her offer was contingent on the suits being offered for $99 and the suits being named after

Now that Raising Wild has financial backing, expect a federal trademark registration to be filed in the near future.  Additionally, Raising Wild could consider filing for design patents for their swim wear.

TEKDRY

Fig. 3, US 8,689,,461

Did you drop your smartphone in the toilet?  TekDry built a machine that slowly heats up wet devices until all the water evaporates.   Available at Staples stores, the services costs $69 but if your phone doesn't work after getting dried out, there is no charge.

TekDry, LLC was founded in 2014 and raised 2.3 million to get the business going.  They spent a portion of that on intellectual property.

TekDry, LLC has an impressive patent portfolio.  TekDry, LLC has issued US Patent 8,689,461, pending U.S. patent application US2014157619, and an impressive international patent portfolio

A review of the U.S. issued patent claims indicates that the thermally conductive beads may be an important aspect of this products intellectual property. 

Additionally, TekDry, LLC has trademark registrations US4,648,740 for their logo and US4,648,737 for their mark TEKDRY.

TekDry, LLC was seeking $500,000 for a 5% share of the company.  A lone shark Kevin (aka Mr. Wonderful) offered $500,000 as a loan at 13% interest plus 5% equity.  The offer was confidently accepted by TekDry, LLC.

The Cookie Kahuna

Wally Amos, aka "Famous Amos," was a recipe for success in the 1970s.  Unfortunately, Wally lost the right to use his Famous Amos name on cookies when he sold the business in 1988.  The Famous Amos cookies you buy now are not the original recipe!

In order to jump back into the cookie business with his original cookie recipe, Amos is starting a new brand.  His trademarks includes a logo USSN 86/881,081 used as the letter K in cookie and  THE COOKIE KAHUNA, US Reg. No. 4,791,512.  

Interesting, Kahuna means wise man in Hawaii.  Wally only pursued his trademark application THE COOKIE KAHUNA after THE COOKIE MAN (USSN 86/085,023) was rejected by the United States Trademark Office.  

Wally came in asking for $50,000 for a 20% stake in his business.  The sharks turned him down largely because he could not use his formerly owned trademark FAMOUS AMOS!  Therefore, he was not capitalizing on his prior good will but building an entirely new brand.