Core77

[KenoLeon]

I was reading this morning about Polaroid ( or C&C Marketing) going after GoPro for infringing on their Polaroid Cube design :

http://www.wsj.com/article_email/polaro ... MzAwNTM4Wj

I've yet to find the text for the lawsuit, but what is bothering me is that something like the rounded cube can be patented, here is Polaroids Cube Patent Drawing:

cubePatent.jpg (41.17 KiB) Viewed 2445 times

And the patent :

http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?docid=D073 ... PN/D730423


And here is the Offending GoPro session:

cubePatent002.jpg (13.69 KiB) Viewed 2445 times

And this is from the excellent "Presentation Techniques: A Guide to Drawing and Presenting Design Ideas" from Dick Powell. (notice 4 and 6)

powelloncubes.jpg (56.14 KiB) Viewed 2445 times

I know it can be a complicated topic, but could there be a clearer case from which to draw a line ?

-K

[Cyberdemon]

Seems like usual patent trolling - because there are many subtle differences such as the radii in only one direction on the GoPro, the chamfer details on the window opening, etc - I would expect that it would not hold up in court.

Might end up being a settlement just to make them go away.

[iab]

Design patents, unlike utility patents, do have classes. So while a cube may have been patented for D2 (Apparel and Haberdashery), it is possible Polaroid got the cube patent for D16 (Photography and Optical Equipment).

There is no doubt they have a similar design.

[Dan Lewis]

I think it will get tossed. For a design patent to hold up, the offender has to pretty much be an exact copy.

[bepster]

Anybody know who is responsible for the GoPro cube ID?

As for Polaroid, it's Ammunition. Wasn't my design, though I was involved in the early stages of the project.

[Sain]

Anybody know who is responsible for the GoPro cube ID?

As for Polaroid, it's Ammunition. Wasn't my design, though I was involved in the early stages of the project.

I'd go with in-house. Bould did the refresh to the Hero3. But GoPro has an internal ID program now. So might have been through there.

[engelhjs]

GoPro has used Bould recently, too.