Welcome back to my blog post. So far, I am really enjoying looking up these silly patents. There are many patented technologies or ideas that I would never think would have been patented. For this post I focused on patents of items or technologies that I never knew existed. This was a great way for me to not only learn why these patents were silly but also learn about new items that I never knew were even thought about! Hope you enjoy, and I am looking forward to reading your comments!
Patent 6929164 | Neck Wrap/Brace Organizer
The idea of this product is a neck wrap that holds items and a belt article that also carry things similar to the neck wrap as it is wrapped around the neck of a person. The idea is that the neck wrap secures together at opposite ends around the person's neck. On the neck strap, there are special features like a telephone holder, which enables the person to use the telephone in a hands-free manner. The belt article has a belt strap that tightens around the person's waist.
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| A medical neck brace similar to the neck wrap |
The idea behind this patent is that is allows you to "de-cluttered" the your life. However, there are a few reasons why I believe that this is a silly patent. First, I do not think that this is a very valid invention. Not only is it not fashionable, but I am not sure how socially acceptable it is. A lot of time a neck brace like the one shown in the picture is generally associated with injury. Therefore, I am not sure how practical this is as an item. Second, like I previously stated, the jump to add a few loops to a traditional medical neck brace is not that far of a difference from the neck wrap shown here. For that reason, I am not sure how non-obvious this product is, and in fact I think it is a very obvious and non-novel invention. I do not believe that this should have been patented. However, I am curious to see what you all think- and mostly would you wear one of these around campus? I do agree that it could potentially make life easier but I am pretty confident I would not wear one of these!
Patent D493601 | Edible Business Cards
This product is fairly straight forward. They are business cards that are edible. I definitely did not know that this product existed. They are made out of a chocolate base and then they have edible colorful ink outlining the details. However, the practicality of these cards are in question since it seems counter intuitive. The purpose of business cards are to give people information and so they can keep your information and get in contact with one another. However, if the card is edible then they are going to eat it and the information will be lost. Therefore, I would not use edible business cards, although it seems to be a fun idea.
Additionally, the edible business card is just a version of the regular business card- there is clearly prior art in this situation so it is not novel that there are edible business cards.
Overall, I found these inventions to be very interesting because I did not know that these inventions were in existence. However, at the same time, once I learned about them, they did not seem non-obvious in any way. Hope you enjoy this post- looking forward to your thoughts and comments!
Hmm, while I agree that the neck brace seems kind of goofy-looking, I would disagree with your analysis about how obvious it is. While adding loops is a simple addition, I don't think it's obvious because we don't think of a neckbrace as being used to hold things, we think of it as a medical device. However, I agree with you that it's not really a good idea :)
ReplyDeleteEdible business cards, sounds like my favorite kind of solicitation from a business! Thanks for discussing that product, I definitely did not know it existed & it makes for a great cocktail party topic imo, hehe. I agree with you that the issue of prior art is definitely big and I'm not so sure this is as innovative when taking prior art into consideration. Although I would not use these business cards myself either (storing them doesn't sound very fun either!), I can see how chocolate/candy stores could really find these cards handy. I know that if a chocolate store gave me one of these cards, I would eat it up & probably visit the store later on to check it out (and maybe even buy some of these business cards from them as a silly gift for friends!)
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Gabrielle!
Hey Gabby
ReplyDeleteI love the edible business cards! I had never heard of them before! I would love to have them! I do agree that the idea is not very innovative! Also, I agree that the neck wrap is ridiculous! It isn't very practical, comfortable, or fashionable! Very fun post Gabby! great work!
Sunny
Hi Gabby,
ReplyDeleteLearning about edible business cards was really awesome, and I thought your in-depth analysis really helped me understand the technology/novelty behind the invention. Great work!
Hi Gabby,
ReplyDeleteWow great job adding so many silly patents and including photos for all of them! I definitely learned a lot reading your post. Keep up the good work.
Hi Gabby! I personally think that edible business cards sound like a fantastic idea. Especially with services like Evernote, which allow you to upload business cards with just a snap of your phone's camera, what better way to dispose of the remains than by eating them! Thanks for the great post!
ReplyDeleteHey! Great post! I thought the edible business cards was hilarious! Never even knew that was a patent/idea. Its interesting that something as ridiculous as this got passed! Anyways, I liked how you said some background information on the patent, and also discussed novelty and obviousness. Everything was very clear and easy to understand. Good job :)
ReplyDeleteHey Gabby! This patent is hilarious, thanks for sharing! I agree that this patent is completely counter intuitive and removes the functionality of the business card. Your diagrams and explanation of the patent are very clear, good job!
ReplyDeleteHow does one store edible business cards? I feel like it might be rude to take someones card and then just immediately take a bite out of it but who knows it could be the new norm. Thanks for funny patents.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that this edible business card goes against a business card's purpose - to store information. Funny idea though - maybe it could be more of a edible logo symbol and then pass them out at events
ReplyDeleteHey Gabby,
ReplyDeleteI really really like your choice of silly patents! I really love edible business cards. Would definitely want to try that... I honestly think that it's productive. Great job on your post!
Hi Gabrielle,
ReplyDeleteI found the neck wrap/brace organizer to be a very silly patent! I think you did a great job looking up these patents on the internet, and I believe you showed great effort with your detailed analysis! Also, I love the pictures and graphics! Keep up the hard work, and I look forward to seeing your next post!