Rivian Patents the "Ornamental Design for a Duffel Bag"

[mkg3]

Does Rivian need to keep their patent attorney busy or something??

It seems like some of these patents are just busy work and has no real value but does take lots of resources (designing it, doing patent search and file for patent itself)

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[Dark-Fx]

Does Rivian need to keep their patent attorney busy or something??

It seems like some of these patents are just busy work and has no real value but does take lots of resources (designing it, doing patent search and file for patent itself)

Guess you've never really dived into any particular big company's portfolio before.

 

[mkg3]

Guess you've never really dived into any particular big company's portfolio before.

I have. I used to work for Fortune 20 company for many years and have filed for few patent myself with others in collaboration. That's how I know how much patent filings costs.

Just because you can doen't mean you should. Especially Rivian with all the cash issues and this patent being a oblique accessory item.

 

[diehlryan]

Ahhh, got it. As an R1S owner, I didn't know about this.

lol.. i thought you were joking when you were pondering its use and where it fits... HA.

 

[vandy1981]

I would like to see a patent for a gear tunnel pizza oven. Imagine how awesome it would be to drop an uncooked pizza on the passenger-side and have it emerge fully cooked on the driver side.

Bonus points for toaster slots in the little pass-through door behind the rear center armrest.

 

[EVTrukHog]

Sure. This is their prototype one they were bringing out early on, it's not what they had planned to produce. Actually looks like drawings for both are in this patent. Odd.

...so you're saying there's a chance?

 

[R1Thor]

I have. I used to work for Fortune 20 company for many years and have filed for few patent myself with others in collaboration. That's how I know how much patent filings costs.

Just because you can doen't mean you should. Especially Rivian with all the cash issues and this patent being a oblique accessory item.

What? You don't know how much patent filings cost, good sir:
" basic filing fee for a utility patent is $600, while the filing fee for a design patent is $320. "

It can cost Tens of Thousands of dollars to consider IF YOU'RE CONTRACTING the PATENT ATTORNEY/FIRM.

I think the point you responded to insinuated that Rivian has their own Patent Attorneys on staff (which, as someone who worked for a Fortune 500 company, and a couple of other innovation/growth-biased engineering companies...*we* did). And in those instances, you WANT to keep your $300k+ attorneys as busy as possible, because the $600 to grab a patent is peanuts compared to the salary you're cranking out sitting in their corner offices!!

One could argue that allowing a free and open market on Rivian accessories they've already been designing would be a bigger loss if they DIDN'T file patents on their IP.

EDIT: and since I hate unsubstantiated information, here's the entire fee schedule for the USPTO:
https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/fees-and-payment/uspto-fee-schedule

(To wit: a bunch of the lower page fees are sort of 'optional**.' If you have your own legal team handling patents, you only need to file--all of the artwork discovery and comparisons should be completed by your team. Our team had special 'software' they used that is super helpful in evaluating similar artwork on design patents, and they're well educated on searching the terms used for design and utility patents that'd raise alarms if you were trying to file over existing IP.

And some of the other fees are waiver-able or discount-able; for example-if you can prove that you've already gone through the discovery phase of your patent and provide all of the commonalities along with evidence of your differentiation. ANYWAY: You're welcome for the info you never wanted on patents!) Extra credit: I haven't just WORKED on teams to patent stuff. I have 7 to my name, and I'm working on #8! I've done both ways: worked with internal teams to file patents as well as worked with outside patent attorneys and their firms.

 

[NDIrish]

I'm sure that's why they patented it, to attempt to prevent another vendor from making something similar at a lower price.

I mean it appears to be all soft sided, so not sure the dimensions matter much since you can "scrunch" it to fit (Like I do with my <$175 bags I use). Nice idea, but the price is not right, and the duffel on the Gear Shop doesn't display a "side" view that shows it's shape match the tunnel (and if it does but it's soft sided, then it will conform to whatever shape the contents and area demands.

 

[SamDoe1]

When it comes to patents, the introduction and pictures are largely unimportant. What is important are the claims that are listed. If this is a design patent then it's easy to skirt around it. Utility patents are a lot more valuable.

What's the patent number? I can look through it.

Not a lawyer but I work in front end R&D and am intimately involved in patent reviews both internal and external and have 20+ patents to my name.

 

[NY_Rob]

If someone at Rivian HQ farts they patent it, no surprise they patented a ($175) duffel bag.

FWIW- if some Chinese factory decided to copy the bag 100% perfectly and sell it on Amazon they could do it without consequences. If it gets reported to Amazon, it will take them 6+months to remove it... by then the same factory will just sell it under some other crazy brand name. Patents only mean American companies can't reproduce the item, it means nothing to overseas manufacturers.

 

[SamDoe1]

If someone at Rivian HQ farts they patent it, no surprise they patented a ($175) duffel bag.

FWIW- if some Chinese factory decided to copy the bag 100% perfectly and sell it on Amazon they could do it without consequences. If it gets reported to Amazon, it will take them 6+months to remove it... by then the same factory will just sell it under some other crazy brand name. Patents only mean American companies can't reproduce the item, it means nothing to overseas manufacturers.

Not true. A patent is only as strong as the holder's ability and resources to defend it even within the USA. The government won't do it for you. There are international (EU, Japan, South America, etc) patents that can be filed as well.

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