preview.tinyurl.com/5evfhu -> cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/21/is-victorias-secret-a-stolen-bra-design/
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battle between J K Rowling and a fan who wanted to publish "The Harry Potter Lexicon" as a literary love note. One place it will probably not go is toward thoughts of lingerie -- brassieres and litigation being, as with many things, an uncomfortable fit.
filed on Monday in United States District Court in Manhattan: a patent matter relating to Victoria Secret's "Very Sexy 100-Way Strapless Convertible Bra." The bra is, according to the lawsuit, the intellectual creation of Katerina Plew, a Long Island paralegal, who registered it under United States Patent No. Ms Plew, who is 38, is now contending that Victoria's Secret stole, then mass-produced, her specialized design. "The first time I thought of it I was getting ready for a christening," Ms Plew said in a telephone interview from her home in Selden, NY "It was an idea that just popped into my head in -- don't know -- like March of '99." The bra, with its various hooks and eyelets, is something like the Micronaut of the undergarment world. By a complicated series of maneuvers, it can be worn in as many as 100 different ways. Which, of course, made it a highly prized commodity to underwear purveyors. In 2006, Ms Plew said she had arranged to meet with designers from Victoria's Secret. But without warning and on the very day it was set to have occurred, the designers canceled her appointment, she contends.
Along with a screen grab from Victoria Secret's online catalog promoting the bra, Ms Plew included in her suit a copy of her patent form with a history of previous brassieres (from the Capparelli to the Zweben) and detailed renderings of her own invention, complete with "diagrammatic rear elevational view." She says that she remembers precisely where she was when she first saw it strapped across the bosom of a mannequin. "I was in the Smith Haven Mall, in Lake Grove, and there was my bra," she said. I had to buy the bra to actually prove they were selling it.
is a total mess that hands out patents & trademarks to just about everyone that applies for one now. A few years ago someone decided to see how far this idiocy could be taken & he got a patent for a method of making a swing, swing. In other words, a patent on pumping your legs to make a swing go back & forth!
As was said earlier, the USPTO is rather a mess, and I'd be surprised if there weren't some similar "prior art" that wasn't actually patented but on the market, thus invalidating her patent. The electronics industry is filled with people who have gotten patents on techniques that were already widespread (with nobody seeking a patent), with the predictable attempt of the "patent holder" to get everyone with a product on the market to pay up. In the real world, almost nobody prevails off of a single patent. Companies with large patent portfolios usually enter into broad cross-licensing agreements with other large companies, and use their patents to crush the little guy. Besides that, this is just one of hundreds of offerings at VS (I've accompanied my wife shopping and seen her browse online) and I'd be surprised if this contraption were one of their big sellers or that the idea were worth that much in the marketplace.
I agree, VS has stopped making decent bras so not sure how sexy can this bra be or let alone bs comfortable. I wonder who came up with the Wonder Bra, will they be sued too for the idea?
It's the same as stealing the idea for a car, a vacuum cleaner or anything else. An original idea is an original idea, and it belongs to the personw ho invented it. Would you like it if your future millions were stolen and people laughed? Huge corporations are known to steal ideas from people who they think don't have the means to sue, or the means to win. Usually, they do not win in court, because the corporation bullies them with their big group of lawyers and threats. And Victoria's Secret is already making money off this idea. Just like people who shop at Wal-Mart support poor treatment of employees and products made in China. You ARE what you shop, and buying a $60 bra stolen from soneone else is nearly as bad as doing the stealing.
It is not valid to say "the US Patent Office is a joke." By that same logic you should rob a bank this afternoon or speed home after work because we all know "our politicians that make the laws are a joke." Are those that criticize this woman really of the belief that Victoria Secret, Target and Wal Mart are not practicing this rip off of the little guy every day? Of course they are - and they are banking on the cost barrier to prevent anyone from stopping them (Patent lawsuits are virtually impossible financially for a normal citizen inventor to enforce). They clearly took the risk of infringement as a business practice by taking her information, cancelling the meeting, and relying on the cost barrier to make her ability to enforce it impossible. Its done every day - and I hope the ACLU takes her case for free and she can recover for her infringement as the law dictates.
An exhaustive search of prior art is paired with a thorough examination, often resulting in numerous rejections and refinements along the way. The resulting patent is a contract with the US Government - your invention will be protected for a certain amount of time against infringement in exchange for the public disclosure of your idea. I applaud Ms Plew for gaining protection for her novel idea and for asserting her patent rights against Victoria's Secret as an infringer. Here's hoping that the claims match up with the product and that she ends up with a return on her investment...
Intellectual property is exaclty what it says, "property". This woman has been granted a patent by a government entity. Those of you who have not been through the process of obtaining a patent have no idea of how involved it is, even for a simple utility patent. I personally know because I too, am an independent inventor. The laws are in place to protect those of us who have jumped through the legal hoops to obtain said "property". VS should be ashamed of themselves and I hope they owe in the end. If Ms Plew were to start a fundraiser to raise the monies needed to fight her case, I'd donate.
Ms Plew is an individual inventor who has had a good idea. You can say that the USPTO has problems, and in many cases now-a-days it does, but we don't know there was a problem with the examination in this patent. What we do know is that this is not a big corporation patenting everything in sight, or the work of a corporate legal department with too much time on it's hands. Was it Microsoft that tried to patent the operating system shell in the same period? But before the patent was granted they just laughed at us. There is a place for patents, and they work - not all the time, but they do work.
From an operational perspective, some mousetraps are pretty hard to figure out too. If I see a bra with a spring-loaded metal bar I'm heading the other way. Adds a new dimension to the old question: Are you a man, or a mouse?
Instead she decided to do it her self and trust the person on the receiving end of a fax machine with the diagram of her revolutionary convertible Bra ! Name Required E-mail Required (will not be published) Comment Submit Comment Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
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