Samsung gets accused of sexism, Amazon reasserts it domination, and Lululemon goes head to head with Under Armour in this week’s biggest patent and IP-related news.
It was a busy week in the world of patents and intellectual property…and we’ve got the biggest headlines and news wrapped up below.
Lululemon vs. Under Armour: It All Comes Down to a Simple Strap
One of the biggest news stories this week involved a legal suit between activewear companies Under Armour and Lululemon.
The battle began, of all things, over a sports bra—and more specifically, a sports bra strap.
Lululemon’s Energy Sports Bra, which retails for $52.00 USD, is one of its best sellers.
Now, the company is suing fellow activewear maker Under Armour for patent and trademark infringement, claiming that 4 different sports bras from UA have utilized the Energy’s crisscrossing, 4-strap design.
The four Under Armour bras in question—the Eclipse Low Impact, the Shape Low Impact, the On The Move, and the Printed Strappy—each feature a 4-strap, crisscross design, as Lululemon claims. Plus, the Under Armour bras range in price from $29.99 to $39.99—significantly cheaper than the Lululemon bra.
In the filing, Lululemon claimed that UA’s continued distribution of the bras was causing “irreparable damage” to Lululemon’s business. The case rests on the federal court determining that the 4-strap, crisscross design is truly novel. If the court rules that it’s a “non-obvious” design, Lululemon could stand to win significant money in damages from Under Armour. The process, of course, could take over a year to resolve.
It’s easy to see where this new and intense competition among bra makers comes from—after all, Victoria’s Secret (who once held around 2/3rds of market share) has experienced a significant dip in sales in recent years, forcing them to shutter their swimsuit division and cease printing their famous catalogues.
With VS sales steadily declining, competition among garment makers has heated up, leading to an increase in patent and trademark applications within the industry—and there are sure to be more legal battles over bra designs in the future.
Samsung In Hot Water After Attaching “Sexist” Hashtags to Its New Male and Female Bixby Voice Assistants
Image via wrongsideof21/Twitter
The excitement over Samsung’s release (finally) of its Bixby virtual assistant was dampened this week, when users found something odd about the hashtags Samsung had attached to its male and female versions of the assistant.
Users who were bothered by the style descriptors took Samsung to task on Twitter, posting screenshots of the virtual assistant’s “Speaking Style” screen, where the female assistant’s style was described as #cheerful and #chipper. The male version of Bixby, on the other hand, had a speaking style that was described as #assertive and #confident.
Various news outlets covered the fiasco—and many of them referenced Samsung’s past issues with deploying content and ads that have sexist angles.
Samsung immediately responded to users’ backlash and said they would work diligently to remove the hashtags from their Bixby platform.
The hashtag issue is only one in a string of problems Samsung has incurred while trying to launch a voice assistant that could compete with Apple. Bixby’s original launch date was pushed back, and most recently, the program was having problems adapting to the English language.
We’ll see where Bixby lands (hopefully sans hashtags) in the coming weeks.
Facebook is Exploring Modular Smartphones—Through Their Secretive Hardware Division
Facebook’s Building 8, known for its secretive nature, has filed for a patent on a “modular electromagnetic device”—a device the company claims will remove the need for consumers to purchase “expensive and wasteful” conventional electronics.
Building 8 is led by Regina Dugan, the former head of Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects. Dugan worked closely on designing Google’s modular phone, Project Ara, before the project was prematurely shuttered last year.
According to the Facebook patent, the modular device would function much like a Lego piece—users would fit it to other modular pieces, such as a camera, a touchscreen and a GPS—or it can be used as a simple telephone device.
Modular pieces of a phone’s components (rather than an all-inclusive, singular smartphone device) would allow users to mix and match phone pieces to their own specifications and keep pieces that are still working when others malfunction.
This patent signals future plans for a smartphone landscape that is controlled by user desires--you can literally build the phone you want out of the components you’ve chosen. We look forward to seeing how/when this project is complete.
Newly-Public Blue Apron Sees Shares Fall, While Amazon Registers a Very Interesting Trademark
Blue Apron’s shares took a nosedive earlier this week, following some very interesting trademark news from the king of eCommerce.
According to analysts, Amazon has applied for a U.S. trademark on a meal-kit service that would seemingly directly compete with Blue Apron. According to the trademark registration, the service would provide “prepared food kits…ready for cooking and assembly as a meal.”
Blue Apron, currently the largest provider of meal kits in the United States, saw its shares tumble following its recent IPO, amid analyst claims that the company will never be profitable.
After Amazon’s announcement of its own meal-kit plans this week (plus the subsequent trademark registration), Blue Apron shares even further, clocking a 10 percent drop on one day.
Valued at around $2 billion in the private market, Blue Apron doesn’t hold the same valuation as a public offering, with many investors denouncing any possibility of Blue Apron being successful long-term.
Blue Apron’s CEO remains hopeful the company will weather this latest storm.
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