5 ms·

But I'm sure she's patented it and amazon wouldn't want to get caught for intellectual property theft so will be diligent about policing sellers. They wouldn't

But I'm sure she's patented it and amazon wouldn't want to get caught for intellectual property theft so will be diligent about policing sellers. They wouldn't want a bad reputation. And the customs office will destroy any imported product in violation of her patents.

gpt5 3y ago
You cannot patent a foldable coat hanger. The only thing she could patent is the specific mechanism she used to enable folding, but I doubt the copycats would use exactly the same design.
- nitwit005 3y ago
  Technically, they could patent every variant that was in her bin, which would at least present some challenge to a knock off.
  - withinboredom 3y ago
    You can't do that IIRC, because it is based on prior art in the public domain. Just like you can't patent a chair with 5 legs. There's also no reason to patent that many things for the same thing. You only need to be sufficiently vague to how it folds. IANAL, but I've gotten a few patents rejected.
    - snitty 3y ago
      >You can't do that IIRC, because it is based on prior art in the public domain. Just like you can't patent a chair with 5 legs. A point she made in the video (and at least partially confirmed by a quick patent search by me) is that there really isn't one of these in the prior art. > There's also no reason to patent that many things for the same thing. You only need to be sufficiently vague to how it folds. As far as patents are concerned, those are the same. Getting a patent broad enough to cover all her embodiments of the invention is the same as getting a patent that covers all the prototypes. In the US you get up to three "free" independent claims per patent application, that can cover different approaches that are non-overlapping. But they can't be addressed to different inventions. In other words, you can get a single patent on three reasonable variations of a folding coat hanger and slight variations thereof. You cannot get a single patent that covers a folding coat hanger, and precision timing device, and a popcorn maker. Source: IAAPL
- matsemann 3y ago
  But Amazon could patent the concept of "1-click payment"..
- zimpenfish 3y ago
  > The only thing she could patent is the specific mechanism she used to enable folding Have only had a brief look at the video but the folding mechanism looks like the standard figure-of-8 rubber things that join the various parts of folding clothes dryers (eg. [0] from John Lewis) - which makes sense! It's a proven design! [0] https://johnlewis.scene7.com/is/image/JohnLewis/238949258alt3?$rsp-pdp-port-640-82$ https://johnlewis.scene7.com/is/image/JohnLewis/238949258alt...
- pbhjpbhj 3y ago
  Sure you can patent a folding coat hanger, in fact someone did recently in granted US patent US1139964B2 [0]. If you look at the claim, which defines the scope of the monopoly, you'll see it is very long. That is because folding coat hangers were already invented and reinvented many times over. Some example published applications would be US4997115A [1], US5632422A. I've not looked at the OP yet, but I'd be surprised if they had a new invention in this space; possible of course. A lot of these things don't make it to be products because they're too expensive for the utility they provide. [0] https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/074881541/publication/US2021085112A1?q=Us2021085112 https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/0748815... [1] https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/023137131/publication/US4997115A?q=Us4997115a https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/0231371...
  - IshKebab 3y ago
    That's his point though. You can't patent "Claim 1: a folding coat hanger".
    - pbhjpbhj 3y ago
      Fair enough, in that case it seems I missed their point then. Sorry.
- fifilura 3y ago
  You can also protect your design. You dont have to patent it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_property https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_property
elpocko 3y ago
Let me add some more sarcasm: destroying perfectly fine products because they "violate" some abstract concept is not insane at all. It's just what humans do.

gpt5 3y ago

You cannot patent a foldable coat hanger. The only thing she could patent is the specific mechanism she used to enable folding, but I doubt the copycats would use exactly the same design.

nitwit005 3y ago
Technically, they could patent every variant that was in her bin, which would at least present some challenge to a knock off.
- withinboredom 3y ago
  You can't do that IIRC, because it is based on prior art in the public domain. Just like you can't patent a chair with 5 legs. There's also no reason to patent that many things for the same thing. You only need to be sufficiently vague to how it folds. IANAL, but I've gotten a few patents rejected.
  - snitty 3y ago
    >You can't do that IIRC, because it is based on prior art in the public domain. Just like you can't patent a chair with 5 legs. A point she made in the video (and at least partially confirmed by a quick patent search by me) is that there really isn't one of these in the prior art. > There's also no reason to patent that many things for the same thing. You only need to be sufficiently vague to how it folds. As far as patents are concerned, those are the same. Getting a patent broad enough to cover all her embodiments of the invention is the same as getting a patent that covers all the prototypes. In the US you get up to three "free" independent claims per patent application, that can cover different approaches that are non-overlapping. But they can't be addressed to different inventions. In other words, you can get a single patent on three reasonable variations of a folding coat hanger and slight variations thereof. You cannot get a single patent that covers a folding coat hanger, and precision timing device, and a popcorn maker. Source: IAAPL
matsemann 3y ago
But Amazon could patent the concept of "1-click payment"..
zimpenfish 3y ago
> The only thing she could patent is the specific mechanism she used to enable folding Have only had a brief look at the video but the folding mechanism looks like the standard figure-of-8 rubber things that join the various parts of folding clothes dryers (eg. [0] from John Lewis) - which makes sense! It's a proven design! [0] https://johnlewis.scene7.com/is/image/JohnLewis/238949258alt3?$rsp-pdp-port-640-82$ https://johnlewis.scene7.com/is/image/JohnLewis/238949258alt...
pbhjpbhj 3y ago
Sure you can patent a folding coat hanger, in fact someone did recently in granted US patent US1139964B2 [0]. If you look at the claim, which defines the scope of the monopoly, you'll see it is very long. That is because folding coat hangers were already invented and reinvented many times over. Some example published applications would be US4997115A [1], US5632422A. I've not looked at the OP yet, but I'd be surprised if they had a new invention in this space; possible of course. A lot of these things don't make it to be products because they're too expensive for the utility they provide. [0] https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/074881541/publication/US2021085112A1?q=Us2021085112 https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/0748815... [1] https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/023137131/publication/US4997115A?q=Us4997115a https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/0231371...
- IshKebab 3y ago
  That's his point though. You can't patent "Claim 1: a folding coat hanger".
  - pbhjpbhj 3y ago
    Fair enough, in that case it seems I missed their point then. Sorry.
fifilura 3y ago
You can also protect your design. You dont have to patent it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_property https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_property

elpocko 3y ago

Let me add some more sarcasm: destroying perfectly fine products because they "violate" some abstract concept is not insane at all. It's just what humans do.