YoYoJam Patent (Bear with me...)

General Yo-Yo
1

Now i know that in the words of jhb:

Which is 100% the case and I apologise for bringing it up again.

However, now circumstances have actually changed, I was interested to know exactly what it could mean.

So, to those actually in the know and preferably not just people guessing (speculation won’t really achieve anything), I have one question:

  • With YYJ shutting down, does the patent still remain in effect?

If the answer is yes then this thread is pretty null and void, but if the answer is no then things get a bit more interesting.

(Please note: I chose to keep this thread seperate from the “Goodbye YoYoJam” threads out of respect, and likewise I don’t want this thread to dissolve into negativity regarding YYJs patent [as has been said, we’ve flogged that horse to death and beyond]. Please let personal feelings regarding the matter lie and lets keep this strictly factual.)

2

I don’t really understand the patent. I thought it had something to do with bimetal, but it appears to me that everyone is doing it.

3

I do believe the patent would still reside with the person who filed it. While the company is shutting down, it wouldn’t nullify the patent itself.

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4

The patent is filed in Dale Bell’s name and not Yoyojam’s, so the company dissolving shouldn’t have any effect on the legal status of the patent. Dale still has a right to his intellectual property even if he is no longer running a company (i.e. he could still make money licensing the IP or selling the patent to other companies, etc). Even if it had been assigned to YYJ, the assignee on the patent can be transferred, so most likely he would be able to just revert ownership of the patent from his company to himself as an individual anyway.

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5

There was no reason for the patent to be assigned to the YoYoJam corporate entity to begin with, so I doubt it ever was.

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6

As stated the patent is Dale Bell’s and still is.

That said, without yoyojam in operation, I can’t imagine him attempting to actually enforce it.

Kyle

7

Bingo.

Assigning this to another would not seem economically feasible. That was my point when posting about the retrospective view of YoyoJam. This development is a game-changer for North American manufacturers from a legal standpoint.

8

Can someone please elaborate on what exactly this patent is? Everywhere I’ve looked, people discuss it but don’t actually say what it’s for.

9

You can read the patent itself on Google patents, though it’s written in legalese and kind of hard to read. Basically, it covers the use of weight rings on a yoyo’s outer rims that are made out of a material significantly denser than the body of the yoyo, in order to increase the rotational inertia (i.e. spin time) and stability of the yoyo. For example, any of YYJ’s plastic yoyos with aluminum or other metal rims, or an aluminum yoyo with titanium/steel/brass/etc rims. I believe there are a few other things listed in the patent as well, like YYJ’s adjustable gap system, but the weight rings are the main thing.

10

So did Dale just choose not to enforce it? There have been such a ridiculous amount of bi-metal yoyos lately, did these just somehow skirt the boundaries of the patent?

11

The patent is not filed in every country (I think YYJ’s patent only applies in the U.S., but they may have filed it in select other countries as well), so manufacturers and retailers operating in countries where the patent is not active aren’t bound by it. For example, the patent doesn’t apply in Japan, where a lot of the recent bi-metals are made and sold. It has been enforced within the U.S. before, at least with the Buzz-On DV8.

I don’t know what the story is with YYF’s Space Cowboy, but it’s possible they licensed the patent from Dale.

12

I thought it was specifically the plastic/metal combo, not just two different materials

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13

Thanks guys! I pretty much assumed that this would be the case but it’s cool to hear it confirmed by you guys. You 4 + yoyodoc were actually the exact people I had in mind when I said “those in the know”, so I’m thrilled that you all weighed in, thanks!

Well this was going to be my next question. I was wondering if (had the patent actually expired) we would finally be able to learn exactly what it applied to and how many of the recent USA bi-metals have managed to circumvent the issue. At this point its still a closely guarded secret it seems. :stuck_out_tongue:

14

I haven’t attempted to read the patent, but from what I hear it’s my understanding that it covers the use of denser weight rings on the outer rims of the yo-yo that make up part of the body of the yo-yo. Rings fitted inside the cup do not infringe.

For example - We’ve carried plastics like the Protostar/Northstar/Rally, but we didn’t carry the Triad initially because it infringed on the patent. Yoyorecreation worked it out with YoYoJam so we now carry it and if you take a look you’ll notice a note on the Triad page: This yo-yo has been built using unique Central Rim Weighting and is officially licensed by YoYoJam to use their patent.

15

On the SpaceCowboy I’ve been told that they got around it by making the aluminum go JUST further out than the steel rings, so they aren’t outer rims.

16
  1. First you have to understand what the patent actually covers.
  2. Then ethically one should respect that, even if there are legal loopholes (this is the reason we don’t have a centering bearing)
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17

Hmmmm, when I asked they said it was the bearing post not being square but tapered.