Last Friday, Michael Tseng showed off his Plate Topper idea.  I thought it was a good invention, and so did the Sharks (although he almost blew his deal because he didn’t have a clue about how to negotiate in a shark tank).  Anyway, he claimed his idea was covered by a patent.  That got me wondering.  Is his patent any good, or did he just get a piece of paper from the patent office that he could put on his marketing materials?

I did a quick search and found his patent.  It is 8,186,533.  To my surprise, the claims weren’t too bad, nothing like I expected.  I’ve pasted claim 1 below:

1. A device for use in storing a product on a component, comprising: a substantially rigid surface having a substantially rigid wall extending peripherally in a substantially vertical manner from said surface and a substantially flexible first member extending peripherally and attaching to a lower end of said wall at an angle, forming a flexible member; a cavity defined beneath said surface and surrounded by said peripherally extending wall wherein the product is maintained; and a structure for displacing a volume of air such that a secure suction seal is formed between a suction surface of said first member and a component surface of said component without requiring corresponding mating structures on said component and said first member; wherein said component is substantially planar.

Good job Michael, and best of luck with your company.  I think I’ll start checking into the other presenters to see what kind of protection they have.

Stay tuned ….