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Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Patent Watch
Inventors chime in on music patents
Ig Nobel Prizes 2009 award winners
MHT's Rodney Brown: App developers see opportunity in new iPhone
MHT's Efrain Viscarolasaga: Tech companies may have to wait for stimulus funds
I love most music, especially rock, old country and western, folk and bluegrass. I don’t like rap (except for the Beastie Boys) and I could probably live my whole life without hearing any more opera. This month, I’ve pulled together a few recent patents and published patent applications naming New England inventors on the topic of music and musical instruments.
• “Sing, sing a song.” Want to buy a song, but don’t know or cannot remember the title or artist? Jill Pandiscio of Wayland is seeking a patent for a computer-based music-purchasing method wherein you sing or hum what you can remember of a song and a search engine determines the song’s title and artist. Her patent application, No. 2009/0024388, published on Jan. 22.
• “My need is such I pretend too much.” Harmonix Music Systems Inc. located in Cambridge — the guys who developed Rock Band — is seeking a patent via application No. 2009/0082078 (March 26) for a more realistic guitar for use in video games. Daniel Schmidt of Somerville, Gregory LoPiccolo of Brookline, and Eran Egozy also of Brookline are the inventors.
• “Knowing that love is to share.” Motorola Inc. inventor Yingchun Ran of Winchester is listed as an inventor in published patent application No. 2009/0111378 (April 30) for a new method of more easily sharing music and other digital-media content between two wireless devices such as mobile phones.
• “Too much information running through my brain.” Accentus LLC (Hopkinton, N.H.) patent No. 7,511,213 (March 31) is for a system for musical sonification of financial market data facilitating better monitoring. Financial data is transformed into music. Edward Childs, Jr. and John Brooks of Norwich, Vt. and James Perkins of Hopkinton, N.H. are the inventors.
• “We were just another band out of Boston …” Bose Corp. (Framingham) has developed an equalizer for bands that allows them to compensate for the different resonance frequencies at concert venues. Patent No. 7,518,055 (April 14) names Michael Zartarian as the sole inventor.
• “I’m just looking for the bridge.” Patent No. 7,504,578 (March 17) is for a guitar with a large LCD monitor under the bridge so the appearance of a guitar can be changed. The monitor can also serve as a touchscreen enabling a player to communicate with a computer. Benjamin Lewry of Manchester, N.H., is the sole inventor.
• “Smashing a perfectly good guitar.” When transporting your guitar, the tuning keys can get bumped, requiring the guitar to be retuned. Patent No. 7,569,759 (Aug. 4) is for a protective cover to keep the tuning keys intact during transport. Russell Pace and Deanne Pace, both of Natick, are the inventors.
• “While my guitar gently weeps.” Craig Small of Framingham won patent No. 7,566,824 on July 28 for an easier-to-use capo (a clip on guitars that players use to change keys) which can be used on stringed instruments with a variety of neck configurations. The patent assignee is First Act Inc. in Boston.
• “It was a Stratocaster with a whammy bar.” Patent No. 7,544,871 (June 9) naming Karen Ringeride of Barrington, R.I. as the sole inventor is for a violin support sling; Patent No. 7,485,785 (Feb. 3) naming Richard Steinberger of Nobleboro, Maine, as an inventor is for a positioning aide for guitars and cellos.
The first person to e-mail me the song title and artist for each of the song snippets above gets one hour of free consultation on any intellectual property matter. No looking on the Internet! E-mail kirk@iandiorio.com.
In other patent news, I never liked Michael Jackson much, but perhaps you should know that the Patent Office Museum in Arlington, Va., has an exhibit featuring Jackson’s patents and trademarks.
Kirk Teska is an adjunct law professor at Suffolk University Law School, managing partner of Iandiorio Teska & Coleman, an ip law firm in Waltham, and author of “Patent Savvy for Managers.”
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