Patent Technologies in a Massage Chair

Massage chair with PPL

In the popular Korean TV drama 'SKY Castle', which made a recent box office storm, there was a massage chair in the living room of main characters’ houses. In another drama, 'Empress of the Empress,' there many scenes of massage chair where the actors are lying on and talking. Last year, the massage chair market was estimated to be about 600 million dollars. The technology and products of the companies have developed as much as the interest of the consumers.

                                                                                < bodyfriend.co.kr > 

Brain massage of bodyfriend,

Bodyfriend is conducting research and development on products centered on the Medical R & D Center. The medical R & D center is known to belong to specialists such as internal medicine, neurosurgery, orthopedics, and oriental rehabilitation medicine. They’re developing products that considers medical effect beyond just massage chair. In response, Bodyfriend has released a product that uses the latest technology, Brain Massage. The product showed 'Haiky' in TV drama is not only growing in height but also promoting the function of brain development.

                                                < www.wipsglobal.com > WIPS patent search database

Hu Tech's sonic vibration massage

The core technology of Hu Tech, the second largest market share, is the 'Sonic vibration massage' system. Kojima's products are the world's first to apply sound wave vibration module. It can transmit a deep and smooth massage feeling by transmitting sound wave vibration to the human body, and it can be used by applying different sound wave vibration according to the massage technique operation.

                                                   < www.wipsglobal.com > WIPS patent search database

Cozyma’s 4D Massage

Cozyma, the third largest market share, has released a 4D massage chair, which stands for a person's massage. Cozyma's new product can be adjusted up to 8 levels so you can get customized massage according to your condition. In addition, the 4D massage function that can massage not only the shoulder but also the hind paw and the trapeze, 16 kinds of massage course, and various kinds of user convenience function are installed, and the completeness of the massage chair is further improved.

                                                    < www.wipsglobal.com > WIPS patent search database

Evolving Massage Chair Market

As the market for massage chairs begins to grow, competition for patent technology is getting more intense for companies to show differentiated functions. The convenience of each massage function in a simple massage chair has expanded the range of options for consumers. I think it is also necessary to choose the massage chair that suits me as well as the smartness to purchase it.

McDonald will lose the BIG MAC trademark?

                                                                              < www.flickr.com >

McDonald's representative brand 'Big Mac'

McDonald's hamburger Big Mac was developed in 1967 to appeal to large-sized customers and is a popular menu until now. It entered into the Korean market in 1988 and got a great response from consumers at that time. McDonald's registered Big Mac as a trademark in 1996.

                                                    < www.intomark.com > WIPS's trademark search database

Ireland's fast food company 'Super Mac'

Founded in 1978, Ireland's Super Mac is a franchise company with 106 stores in its own country. McDonald's has been claiming that its trademarks 'Big Mac' and 'Super Mac' can be confusing to consumers because of similar names. It was reported that the Super Mac had a very difficult time to enter European market. Then in 2017, Supermac filed a complaint with the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) that McDonald's has been hindering its business expansion through trademarks that is not used as the trademarks. McDonald's claims that the name "Big Mac" has been widely used throughout Europe.

      < supermacs.ie >

Judgment by EUIPO

On the 15th of last month, EUIPO issued a trademark cancellation ruling that McDonald's did not use the Big Mac trademark.

After the ruling, Super mac said that they won the battle of David and Goliath, winning the McDonald's with its mighty power and trademark rights, and said it was a ruling for smaller companies.

McDonald's said in a statement that the decision was to ignore the obvious evidence that the Big Mac mark was actually being used in Europe and that it would appeal immediately.

After the ruling, Burger King's Swedish branches ridiculed selling menus with names such as  " like Big Mac", "Big Mac like"..etc.

                                                                             < tmdn.org > Supermac's trademark in Europe

Will McDonald lose the Big Mac trademark?

The trademark that McDonald's lost in this lawsuit is 'BIG MAC' which is all capitalized. In fact, in addition to the capital letter, McDonald's has a number of similar trademarks such as 'Big Mac' and 'Grand Big Mac'. Therefore, it will not be difficult to use the name Big Mac in the future. McDonald has lost in 2009 after eight years of trademark lawsuits with Curry Restaurant McCully in Malaysia. In fact, McDonald's has never lost in trademark lawsuits with other companies. That's why industry officials are also seeing a high likelihood of reversing the ruling in the appellate court. We should wait for the next verdict if McDonald can become the real owner of the trademark right against Super Mac.

Clothes Treating Device greeting the golden age

Clothes treating device trilogy in Korea!

Nowadays, the apparel treating device market is in its era. As the situation of domestic fine dust getting worse and worse, the word of mouth that spreads the word that it is easy to manage the coat and pants which are difficult to be washed each time is spreading, and the interest of the clothes treating device is gradually increasing. After LG Electronics cut off its first start, Samsung Electronics is joining the market after Coway, and the triple wave of the three companies is going on. Let's look briefly at each company's clothes treating device (clothing manager, hereafter) through the patents of each company.

Beginning of clothing manager, LG Electronics,

As a company that pioneered the clothing manager market in Korea, since 2005, they have filed for a clothing refreshing device similar to the current ones, and have been steadily filing for a corresponded patent. They have a lot of patents on clothes treating machines. If you look at patents that are different from those of other clothing manager, you will notice that there is a technique to shake clothes quickly to the left and right so that it drops foreign objects, and techniques that can compress the pants by pressure.

                                                   < www.wipsglobal.com > WIPS patent search database 

Coway's clothes cleaner,
Coway launched a product called 'Clothes Cleaner' one step ahead of Samsung Electronics. They aim to differentiate the products from those of LG Electronics, and they are doing marketing with an emphasis on clean functions. The published technology is characterized by the ability to sterilize clothing using sterile water and the ability to perform external air cleaning and dehumidifying functions. It seems to be putting a little more power on the clean function as a company famous for cleaner products such as water purifier and air purifier.

                                                                 < www.wipsglobal.com > WIPS patent search database

Samsung Electronics Clothing Cleaner,

Samsung Electronics, which entered the market late last year, released the product named ‘Clothing Cleaner’ in August 2018. It seems that there is a possibility of confrontation with Coway which is called 'clothes cleaner' with the same name. Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics is a latecomer, so they introduced other technologies to the product to avoid LG Electronics' patented technology. LG Electronics adopted a method of dropping foreign objects through rapid vibration, while Samsung Electronics adopted a method of eliminating foreign materials inside and outside of clothes with strong wind up and down. It also emphasized the ability to dehumidify the space in the process of re-absorbing the blowing wind and steam.

                                                                 < www.wipsglobal.com > WIPS patent search database

How will the landscape of clothing manager change?
Currently, LG Electronics is leading the market with a market share of over 70%. Coway and Samsung Electronics, which started late, are also trying to expand their footsteps with their entry into the market, bringing the advantages of their own products. We should wait and see if Coway and Samsung Electronics can change the dominant market of LG Electronics.