Valentine’s Day patents
What could be more appropriate for Valentine’s Day than roses, candy, and diamonds? How about patents related to roses, candy, and diamonds! Read on to discover more about Valentine’s Day patents, for one of America’s favorite celebrations of love, chocolate, and greeting cards.
Valentine’s Day Patents
Roses
Roses, and other flowers, have been associated with love and celebrations of Valentine’s Day for many years – and of course, flowers are a big business all of the year (for a fascinating look, see articles from National Geographic and Slate, for instance). So it seems appropriate that the first U.S. Plant Patent ever issued was for a rose: US PP1, for a climbing rose. That is certainly not the only patent on a rose: as of today (Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, 2016), there are 1,073 issued plant patents for rose plants. A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but would it be as patentable? (with apologies to the Bard of Avon; link to the quote is at one of my favorite websites for books and readers). Maybe not. 1,073 patents may not sound like many, but there are only 26,364 U.S. plant patents that have been issued, in total, from 1931 to the present. The fact that rose plants make up over 4% of the issued plant patents should indicate how romantically (and economically!) important they are.
Candy
Candy, like flowers, is a prominent feature of Valentine’s Day celebrations. Are there patents on candy? Oh, yes: over 600 patents related to candy, and over 400 related to chocolate. Some favorites include heart-shaped chocolates, such as US D344,843 and US D449,147. And a new personal favorite, a utility patent related to chocolate, is US 9,185,923. How can you not love a method of 3D printing of chocolates? Next year, perhaps, you can order custom-made 3D-printed chocolates. Just be sure to get your order in well ahead of Valentine’s Day.
Diamonds and hearts
Diamonds are well represented in Valentine’s Day patents: there are design patents for shapes or arrangements of diamonds (around 400), and utility patents for methods for cutting and polishing diamonds (close to 200). But there are 8 issued patents that mention diamond and heart in the title. These include US 8,353,181, for a heart-shaped diamond cut, US D656,858, for a triple-heart jewelry with diamond outline, and US 6,434,805, for a method of making a heart-shaped diamond. Without heart-shaped diamonds, or hearts decked out with diamonds, how would we know it is Valentine’s Day?
Are you ready to invent something related to Valentine’s Day? Would you like to know more about Valentine’s Day and intellectual property? Call me at 617-340-9295 or email me at my Contact Me page. Or, find me on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Google Local, or Avvo.
