Legal Journals

Alleged Infringing Gift Can Say “You’re Not Fat.”

The prior post about magnetic toy blocks might not have suggested a preferred embodiment for a gift to/from a patent attorney.  Consider then, the alleged infringing “Bodyfat Analyzer and Scale” products in the recent suit, Tanita Corp. v. Homedics-USA, Inc., 1:08-CV-7145 (N.D. Il., filed 12/12/08).  Perhaps this gift idea is not new, since some patents acknowledge it long was “known to use four electrodes to measure the internal impedance of the body to determine a quantity related to internal body fat.” 

The alleged infringing analyzer gifts, though, incorporate the claimed features of a “transparent” base plate or a removable “display device,” as described in the cited patents, USP 6,532,385 and 6,590,166.  In terms of utility, as a gift, the bodyfat analyzer is portable, noninvasive, quick to use, requires no “active collaboration” by the gift-giver, and the measured ratio of adipose to muscle tissue can be kept secret.  Still, to give a bodyfat analyzer, which may be infringing, and that has a detachable display, could imply that it is for/from a patent reformer blessed with both a wide body and weak eyes.

Taylor, the accused infringer also offers gift ideas, that perhaps complement the bodyfat analyzer gift sector, such as the Chocolate Thermometer Spatula, which makes stirring molten chocolate “fool-proof,” and the Candy - Deep Fry Dial Thermometer for whatever candied items are tastier deep-fried.  The suit also pleads the earlier-filed RE 37,954 patent, which gives a reminder that typos in the spec remain after reissue.  It describes the prior art “underwear body weighing method,” that one can presume was about the “underwater” method.  The combination of all the foregoing elements, however practiced, is a gift.

Full post as published by Tech Law Forum on December 16, 2008 (boomark / email).