Posts Tagged: "toy patents"

Makers of Popular Bakugan Toy Files Patent Infringement Suit over Transformable Toys

The technology covered by the ‘073 patent has been incorporated into the series of Bakugan rollable toys developed by Spin Master and released in 2007 in conjunction with the Japanese-Canadian anime adventure series Bakugan Battle Brawlers. According to Spin Master’s complaint, the Bakugan toy series has been a major success for the company, earning $1 billion in sales in just over a decade. Bakugan is a combination of the Japanese words for “to explode” (baku) and “sphere” (gan) and Spin Master’s toys were designed to be spherical, rollable toys which would “explode” into a character when the toy came into contact with a magnetic component. Spin Master’s toys remained popular through a number of Bakugan spin-off series and the company planned to reboot the toy brand for release along with a new anime series to be released in the 2019-20 time frame.

The Five Biggest Mistakes Toy Companies Make

While engaging in a manner most likely to lead to success is critical for any company, it is even more important for toy entrepreneurs for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, all too frequently costly mistakes are made. Here are five mistakes that I see toy companies make far too often… One of the ultimate ironies is that many toy companies spend most of the time coming up with the perfect name for their company but then don’t take the necessary steps to secure that name. Usually, companies either fail to run a trademark search or wait too long to file the trademark. The best time to discover a trademark issue for your name of choice is at the outset because any conflict can easily be resolved by picking a new name; and trust me while that may not seem desirable in the long run it will save you a lot of time and money.

Top 10 Iconic (and Patented) Toys

Of course, it wouldn’t be a traditional Christmas at IPWatchdog unless we spent some time profiling some cool innovations that relate to the holiday season. So today, with Christmas firmly in mind, we want to take a look at the importance that utility and design patents have held for the toy industry. With the hours winding down before Santa Claus makes his way down chimneys across the world, join us as we take a look back at some of the most popular children’s toys of all time, as well as the intellectual property behind them all. Our journey runs includes iconic toys such as the Hoola Hoop, Slinky, Play-Doh, Easy Bake Oven, Game-Boy, the Frisbee, YoYo, Lego blocks, the Magic 8 Ball and the Etch A Sketch.

Happy Valentine’s Day: Patents for the Occasion

It is time once again to profile some patents in honor of the festive day. While many might not consider Valentine’s Day to be a major holiday worth of profiling patents, allow me to suggest that you test the theory by failing to acknowledge the amorous sentiment of the day and see just exactly how much of a major holiday your significant other considers it to be! Not that I would suggest giving heart shaped pepperoni slices to the love of your life (yes, patented, see below), but Valentine’s Day does need a proper celebration.