"patent" news and stories

As a good friend of mine would say: well, see what happened was...

That's what the owners of the patent for cryogenically probably wanted to say when a court ruling invalidated their patent. Turns out that to get a patent, you have to disclose prior sales, which is part of the reason that they lost it. The makers of Dippin' Dots sold a similar product to over 800 customers a year before they applied for the patent.

Dippin' Dots lost its patent in 2007, and it has two main rivals (even though I've never heard of wither one): MiniMelts and MolliCoolz.

[Via Franchise Pundit]

No one else puts a burger together quite like McDonald's - or, at least, that's what McDonald's thinks. The company has put in a patent application (WO2006068865) in Europe and the US that tries to stake the company's exclusive claim to their sandwich preparation methods.

If you have ever gone behind the scenes at McDonald's you will immediately notice the posters that visually describe the components of each sandwich to the cooks, but the process is more complicated that just a photo - especially if you follow the instructions in the patent application. Apparently, it involves the "pre-assembly of sandwich components and simultaneous preparation of different parts of the same sandwich." Bread (a.k.a. the "bread component") is toasted while a filling is heated. Condiments and garnishes, from ketchup to tomatoes and bacon - are put into an "assembly tool" and added, together, to the sandwich. And it is the making of sandwiches, not the making of "McDonald's burgers" that the 55-page application tries to claim in the name of the company, noting "often the sandwich filling is the source of the name of the sandwich, for example - ham sandwich."

A spokesman for the UK patent office said that, while they may be able to claim their "assembly tool" as unique, neither they nor anyone else can gain the exclusive rights to making a sandwich.

Source

Ed Atwell, an experienced baker and donut maker, has just patented the first donut in Canada. Now, it's not the recipe that is patented, but the technique used to make the two-tone pastry. The donut is exactly half chocolate and half vanilla, with the two batters touching but not blending together. When he baked up the prototype batches, Atwell remarked that "they were the most beautiful doughnuts [he]'d ever seen."

The donuts are sold under the name "Sunnymoon" and are unmistakably distinctive in their appearance. The inventor remains optimistic about sales because Canada is the most competitive donut market in the world, with the number one rate per capita of donut consumption. From all appearances, however, the Sunnymoons are off to a good start in terms of sales and, if they become family favorites, Atwell can be sure that his "beautiful doughnuts" will not be forgotten.

Source