Oh wow, I know one of the patent attorneys who worked for the law firm that helped Royal Jongbloed way back when they created this format! It feels like a lifet

Oh wow, I know one of the patent attorneys who worked for the law firm that helped Royal Jongbloed way back when they created this format! It feels like a lifetime ago, and since the original patent[0] was filed in 2006 that is kind of true, I guess. > Jongbloed, which was founded in 1862 as a bookshop and later became a Bible printer, created the flipback format in 2009, and quickly realized there was a wide audience for compact, portable books. > But getting English flipback editions of Mr. Green’s books proved endlessly complicated. Jongbloed is currently the only printer in the world that makes them, using ultrathin but durable paper from a mill in a village in Finland. So from what my friend told me back then, Jongbloed was a fairly small printer, and struggling with ever-decreasing Bible sales (the Netherlands has gotten more secular over the generations). They knew they couldn't compete with the big printing companies because of economies of scale, but unlike them, they had the technology and skills to print on ultra-thin paper, because that was the traditional way they printed their Bibles. So they decided to try and create a new niche for themselves based on this edge, and came up with the sideways, one-handed pocket idea. Based on all the software patent horror stories I hear, I guess that in the Netherlands it takes more effort to patent things - basically, the US patent office defers checking the validity of the patent to whomever challenges it in court, whereas the Netherlands patent office does not. It's the combination of printing on ultra-fine Bible paper with a sideways pocket is ultimately what got them the patent. I remember my friend being really excited about it. Haven't spoken to him in ages, but we originally studied physics and switched careers. He told me he loved being a patent attorney because it boils down to writing out ideas in a really exact language, which basically meant he gets to be a technical consultant for people with novel, interesting ideas that he would have never taught of himself. [0] https://patents.google.com/patent/NL1032073C2/en?q=Jongbloed&q=book&country=NL https://patents.google.com/patent/NL1032073C2/en?q=Jongbloed...