Image source: Figureworm Creative
One of the hottest toys of the year is the decompression toy. At the beginning of the year, the rat eradication pioneer became popular on major e-commerce platforms, and a large number of related toys poured into the market, and the number of sales was grasped with both hands, and 5 of the top 10 products in the Amazon hot list were listed.
(Image source: Amazon Best Sellers list)
Decompression toys are fragrant, but they are "thorny roses", but there is a hidden risk of patent infringement behind them. Christmas is the peak of toy sales, in order to avoid sellers stepping on the thunder, today will be a good plate of decompression toy patent situation.
Rat Eradication Pioneer
In 2014, the rat eradication pioneer from the well-known toy company FOXMIND can be called the big brother of squeezed bubble toys.
(Image source: Amazon)
The search found that FOXMIND did not have a related patent, and only the graphic trademarks that were still under review were related to the shape of the rat exterminator product.
(Image source: USPTO)
FOXMIND did not apply for patents for products, which gave sellers room to play, and various appearance patents mushroomed like mushrooms. According to the search, products in the shape of hearts, unicorns, dinosaurs and pistols have been patented for U.S. appearance.
There are more EU appearance patents without actual examination, high probability of authorization and fast certification, and almost all the products on sale can find corresponding patents. The following shows only a small number of patents that have been retrieved, if you want to know more, you can scan the QR code at the end of the article.
(Image source: EU Trademark and Patent Office)
FAT BRAIN TOYS
The representative of the extruded bubble toys FAT BRAIN TOYS, which has a variety of toys that are hot sellers, is much smarter than FOXMIND in patent applications, and has applied for patents for its products early, reducing the possibility of infringing products eroding the brand and melon distribution.
For example, this dimple doll toy, left a rating of 1.7W+, the corresponding US appearance patent has also been authorized.
(Image source: Jite)
In addition to this product, its hot products with appearance patents also have the following two:
Tee Turtle flip octopus
Tee Turtle flip octopus plush toys must be familiar to everyone, the product has long occupied the top of Amazon's best-selling list, leaving a rating of nearly 4.6W+, a proper big hit.
The same is the hit, squeezed bubble toys bloom everywhere, but the flip octopus is thriving. We rarely see similar products carved up in sales, why is this? This is all due to its perfect patent protection, and the brand side applied for a design patent for the product as early as 2019.
Perhaps some sellers feel that they can innovate in appearance to avoid appearance patent infringement, just like the rat eradication pioneer, taking the road of diversification of appearance. There are not a few sellers who have this idea, but they have not been able to achieve it, because the product also has a US invention patent. (Pay special attention to the layout of intellectual property rights, in exchange for monopoly market share)
Its core protection point is that reversible toys can include the main body. The subject comprises a relative first and second surface, the subject between the first and second position reversible to alternately present the first and second surfaces as a bound outer subject surface. The other in the first and second surfaces can alternately define the surface of the reservoir, the surface of the reservoir defines the internal cavity in the main body. Reversible toys may include openings that lead to an internal cavity and have a diameter. When the subject moves between the first and second positions, at least part of the subject can collapse through the opening. The retainer can define the diameter of the opening.
Therefore, as long as the core structure of the other party is adopted and contains the other party, it is infringing, and the flip design of similar structures also has the risk of infringement if it only changes the appearance shape.
FIDGET CUBE decompresses the Rubik's Cube
The same is the appearance patent + invention patent dual protection of the decompression toy, the product has sued for infringement three times, the grounds of prosecution are trademark infringement and copyright infringement, which makes many people ignore its patent infringement risk.
(Image source: FIDGET CUBE official website)
Since 2018, the brand has applied for a number of US appearance patents for the product, which fully protects the appearance of the product. In addition to the US appearance patent, the product also has the European Union, Canada and other appearance patents, the scope of protection is very wide.
In addition, the product has also applied for an invention patent for "a handheld touch device with removable tactile features", and sellers who want to sell similar products should pay attention to analysis and comparison to avoid infringement.
In summary, most decompressed toys carry the risk of patent infringement. If the seller wants to enter the market, he must do a good job in patent search, carefully analyze and compare, understand the various infringement points, and then innovate to avoid it, so as to have no worries.
In addition, if the product has an innovative design, it must be patented in time. Patents not only protect products from infringement and squatting, but also gain monopoly rights and seize the market.
If you want to know whether your products have the risk of infringement, you can scan the QR code at the end of the article and contact Jite to issue a detailed patent analysis report for you!
▼The general content of the patent analysis report
Benefits at the end of the article
Patent infringement is light to remove listing, heavy to remove sales permissions, seller friends have to guard against. To this end, JAC has carefully prepared a patent infringement data package, which contains:
1. Patent dry goods
(1) Design patent inquiry tutorial
(2) Patent infringement complaint tutorial
(3) Template for malicious complaints of patent infringement
2. Top 10 popular category patent search reports
(1) Patent search report of lamp products
(2) Kitchen product patent search report
(3) Pet product patent search report
(4) Fitness product patent search report
(5) Courtyard product patent search report
(6) Outdoor product patent search report
Sellers in need can reply to the "patent" by private message to Hugo Bacteria, and they can collect it.