Electronic Thermometer

  • 2022年10月20日
#design #patent #trademark #utility model

My long-time electronic thermometer broke, so I bought a new one.
The built-in battery seems to have worn out, not only because of infection prevention measures, but also because my elderly family members have more opportunities to take their temperatures regularly.
Without time to do any preliminary research, I went to the sales floor of a local drugstore and was surprised to find several electronic thermometers available and surprisingly inexpensive despite their high functionality.

I remember that in the past, most thermometers did not have replaceable batteries to prevent infants from accidentally ingesting button batteries, but now they sell thermometers with replaceable batteries. I guess they have devised a way to prevent easy removal of the battery.
Some were waterproof and washable, which seems to be in high demand in this day and age, and some had an attached case that could be easily cleaned with alcohol.

After much deliberation, I chose the Terumo thermometer we had been using previously and purchased a thermometer with a sound pressure about twice as loud and easy to hear at the end of a temperature test. It can predict temperature in about 20 seconds and measure temperature as speedily as a temperature check at a hospital.

Terumo's electronic thermometers Terumo's registered trademark

The Terumo logo in the image is naturally a registered trademark (Japanese Registration No. 6191923 Protective No. 01), but a further search on J-PlatPat revealed more than 250 patents, utility models, and designs for Terumo’s electronic thermometers.

By the way, Terumo thermometers have had a 100-year history. What is the 100th anniversary commemorative thermometer sold last year! If you are interested, check the following site♪ (Cacao)
100th anniversary commemorative thermometer website (Japanese only)

Cooling Ring

  • 2022年10月05日
#patent

Early this summer, my daughter asked me to buy her a cooling ring to wear around her neck, and I purchased the product shown in the photo.

Cooling Ring

Inside the ring-shaped tube is a liquid that freezes (becomes solid) at temperature below 28 Celsius. When placed in the freezer, etc., it solidifies quickly and stays cold.

Cooling Ring Cooling Ring

Since it is used around the neck, it cannot cool the whole body, but my daughter says that the part of the body that touches the ring feels cool and comfortable.

By the way, the enclosed instruction sheet mentioned the patent number (Japanese Patent No. 6895671).

Cooling Ring

If you are interested in the contents of the patent, please check it on J-Plat Pat. (Hiro)
JP,6895671,B : The neck cooling device

Emergency Food and Patents

  • 2022年09月21日
#patent #trademark #utility model

September 1 was Disaster Prevention Day.
In our family, we check our emergency supplies every year on this day.
For rolling stock, we especially check items with expiration dates and use-by dates, such as water, emergency food, and dry cell batteries, and replace those that will expire before next year’s Disaster Prevention Day.

rolling stock

Disaster prevention supplies are not only for huge earthquakes, but also for flood damage during this season of frequent typhoons. Not only can emergency food be stored for a long time and do not require heating, but they have become so tasty that they exceed the image of emergency food, and I feel that efforts are being made to make them as close as possible to meals in normal times.
Efforts are also evident from the large number of patents, utility models, and trademarks found when searching for keywords such as “emergency food” on J-PlatPat.

Every year, every time I check my stockpile, I try to put this and that in it, and I have trouble keeping it in my backpack. (Syszo)

Disaster prevention supplies

Intellectual Property Supporting Food Loss Reduction

  • 2022年08月31日
#patent #trademark

In Japan, more than 5 million tons of food is thrown away annually (Ministry of the Environment estimates 5.22 million tons in 2020). It is said that one of the factors causing food loss is the distribution system from producers to consumers. In order to contribute to food loss reduction, it is recommended that consumers purchase food products from supermarkets and convenience stores, starting with products that are close to their expiration or consumption dates.

food loss

With the aim of reducing food loss, in October 2021, NTT DOCOMO launched a service using the “ecobuy” application. DOCOMO users can earn points by purchasing products that are close to their expiration or consumption date at participating stores, taking a picture of the receipt with their smartphone, and sending it to the system.

https://d-card.jp/kakeisoudan/articles/r825y7k5r1p/

https://r-tsushin.com/sdgs/nttdocomo_ecobuy/

For this system, NTT DOCOMO has obtained the “ecobuy” trademark (Japanese Trademark Registration No. 6082392) and a patent for “information processing equipment and information processing system” (Japanese Patent No. 6462105). The patent gazette describes the effect of the invention as “the user is motivated to purchase that type of product because he or she is rewarded for purchasing products that are close to their expiration date, thereby reducing the amount of products that are discarded due to expiration, so-called food loss.” In this way, we can contribute to the challenges of the SDGs through intellectual property. (Conan)

food loss

Takuma-style boiler

  • 2022年08月10日
#Inventions of the Day #patent

I would like to introduce an invention closely related to today, August 10. The invention is the “Takuma-style boiler” invented by Tsunekichi Takuma (1872.2.8~1953.12.22), a Meiji-era born industrialist, inventor, and founder of Takuma Corporation.

It is said that Tsunekichi Takuma applied for a patent for the Takuma boiler, Japan’s first domestically produced boiler, to the Patent Office, a foreign bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce at the time, 107 years ago (1915) today. Some sources say that he invented the boiler in 1912 and patented it the following year.
Tsunekichi Takuma was a successful lumber merchant in his thirties, but after investing in a boiler manufacturing business, he failed and incurred a large amount of debt. However, he later went on to develop boilers on his own and completed the Takuma-style boiler. This was so successful that it put a stop to the import of foreign-made boilers.

In 1936, Tsunekichi Takuma established the Takuma Tsunekichi Research Institute at his home (now Takuma Co., Ltd.). Takuma Corporation is now a research and development company that applies for 10~30 patents every year.

Related link(Japanese):
8月10日 – Wikipedia
田熊常吉 – Wikipedia
タクマ (企業) – Wikipedia
(blink)

The rainy season has begun

  • 2022年06月29日
#patent

The rainy season began in the middle of June in the Tokai region where our firm, Hattori & Partners is located, and even as I write this blog, it is raining and gloomy outside.
During this season, I always take a folding umbrella with me when I go out, and every time I put a portable umbrella in my bag, I feel that it has become much smaller and lighter than it used to be, which is another advancement.
When I search for “umbrella patent” on the Internet, I see various umbrellas that have been devised from various aspects, and just reading about them makes me excited and want to try them. The plastic umbrellas that abound in the streets are convenient and easy to use, but it is the season to be interested in the latest umbrellas that have been devised with new functions and materials.

Well, the rainy season is finally here! but this year’s rainy season seems to have rushed away. Once confirmed, it is expected to be 13 days, the shortest since statistics began in 1951. That’s a surprise, isn’t it? (Swimmer)

Pon Pon Flowering Dahlia

  • 2022年06月22日
#design #patent #trademark

It is June and I am looking forward to the blooming of the dahlias that I planted the bulbs in April.
The blooming period of dahlias is generally June to November. It appears that a design and two or more trademarks are used for this dahlia package.

Pon Pon Flowering Dahlia

The backing paper in the photo attached to the mesh bag that contained the bulbs was registered as “backing paper for an article” Japanese Design Registration No. 1068135.
Hana-no-Yamato Corporation, a general gardening manufacturer, seems to own not only the registered design and the registered trademark but also the patent. (Raspberry)

Carbon Neutral Patent Application

  • 2022年06月15日
#patent

 On October 26, 2020, Japan’s Prime Minister Suga (at that time) declared in his policy speech to the Diet, “We aim to achieve a carbon neutral, decarbonized society by 2050”. This declaration was also extended to the Japan Business Federation. Now, a year and a half after October 2020, I checked the published gazettes to verify whether the number of patent applications related to carbon neutrality surged along with this declaration.
 I searched the Patent Information Platform (J-PlatPat) for the number of gazettes containing the term “carbon neutral” in the specification by year of application, and found the following results (as of May 31, 2022).

Carbon Neutral Patent Application

 Already in 2001, there were applications with the term “carbon neutral” in the specification. For example, in Japanese Patent Publication 2003-129058, it is stated that “Biomass, in particular, is carbon neutral and should be actively used to replace petroleum, coal, etc., in order to fulfill the international commitments made at the Kyoto Conference on Climate Change Prevention (COP3).” This seems to reflect the growing interest in global warming and climate change triggered by the Kyoto Protocol of December 1997.
 Subsequently, the number of applications describing the term “carbon neutral” increased, but peaked in 2009 (the year COP15 was held in Copenhagen) and has been declining since then, with a leveling off trend since around 2015. Incidentally, the Paris Agreement, which sets reduction targets for each member country, was adopted at COP21 in 2015. As of the end of October to the first half of November 2020, when Prime Minister Suga’s declaration was made as introduced at the beginning of this report, there was no particular upward trend in applications.
 I hope that many carbon neutral related inventions will be created for the future global environment. (Conan)

Delicious appetizer

  • 2022年06月08日
#patent #trademark

“Kazuchee” is a popular appetizer sold at Kaldi and other stores. It is one of my favorite appetizers because of the unique crunchy texture of herring roe inside the cheese. I eat it not only as an appetizer but also as a snack…

Kazuchee

On the package I just bought the other day had the words “patented” on it! I don’t remember much about this before, and there is no mention of “patented” in the package photo on the online store of Ihara & Co., Ltd., the manufacturer.
I got curious, so I looked it up on J-PlatPat and found that it was registered on August 31, 2021. (Japanese Patent No. 6936457, Article 30, Paragraph 2 of the Patent Law, with an exception for loss of novelty)
As I thought, it was a relatively new patent! (Marron)

“Kazuchee” is a Japanese Trademark of Ihara & Co., Ltd.
Kazuchee.com (Online Shop) (Japanese)

Massage Gun “SIXPAD Power Gun”

  • 2022年04月22日
#design #patent #trademark #utility model

Recently, I have come across a device called a massage gun (or power gun). As the name suggests, a massage gun is a type of massage device that is shaped like a gun and whose tip vibrates at high speed.
I was a little curious about it because I heard that it can help relieve stiff shoulders and back pain as well as take care of muscles. I had a chance to try it out and was very pleased with how it felt, so I bought it.

SIXPAD Power Gun

To use it, simply press the tip of the power gun lightly against the area of the body you want to relieve. The SIXPAD Power Gun from MTG Corporation, which I purchased, allows you to adjust the vibration speed of the tip in five stages, from about 1,800 rpm (revolutions per minute) to about 3,000 rpm. When I first used it, I was surprised at the speed and power of the vibration. The tip attachments, such as U-shaped and ball-shaped ones, can be changed to suit the part of the body being used, and I feel that the vibrations reach deep into the muscles very well. I use it when I have stiff shoulders or when I feel muscle fatigue after exercise. I recommend it to anyone who is similarly concerned.

MTG Co., Ltd is a company located in Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. If you search for “MTG Co., Ltd” on J-PlatPat, a great number of patents, utility models, designs, and trademarks will hit. Also, 21 trademark were hit for “SIXPAD”. (Syszo)

SIXPAD Power Gun Website (Japanese)
https://www.mtgec.jp/wellness/sixpad/products/powergun/