You wouldn’t give it a thought when you grab your re-usable drink bottle in the morning but behind the bottle’s cool exterior lies a hidden story of intellectual property. Years of scientific research and development, numerous prototypes, experiments on different materials and production methods eventually come together and what was once a concept on paper evolves into a tangible product in the marketplace that you decided to purchase.
The vessel that holds your thirst-quenching beverage is probably the proud owner of a unique design registration which entitles the manufacturer to protective IP rights over the design, preventing unauthorised copying from third parties. A design registration protects the appearance of a product, such as the shape, colour and material of something. That humble coffee mug sitting on the supermarket shelf may in fact possess multiple design protection throughout the world giving the owner the security that its design is protected from infringers.
An example of a re-usable drink bottle that features a US design registration is from Chilly’s Bottles Ltd, invented by British designer James John Wood: see US design patent here.
Many of the insulated/thermal drink bottles on the market today are improvements on the original vacuum flask that was invented in 1892 by Scottish scientist James Dewar. Whilst working in the field of cryogenics, he developed the first vacuum flask containing a double wall of brass with a vacuum space in between to store liquids at a stable temperature.
However, as Dewar did not patent his invention it was available for others to replicate and improve on. In fact, Dewar’s vacuum flask invention was later commercialised in 1903 by two entrepreneurial German glassblowers who saw its potential and claimed both the patent rights and trademark rights for a flask design, naming the product Thermos – a brand name, synonymous to flasks that lasts to this day. You can view here the US patent from 1908 that was granted to the inventor Reinhold Burger for his double-walled vessel.
Today the market is saturated with numerous brands for travel mugs, drink bottles and flasks. But if any lesson can be learned from this, we should spare a thought for the scientist Mr Dewar who missed a trick when he failed to patent his vessel.
