I, along with most of the Sharks, was impressed with the presentation by Max Feber on his new product for cold brewing coffee. Here is the link to his website showing his product.
The one question I had was whether one of the larger coffee companies could merely copy his idea when they saw it. One of the Sharks thought the same thing and asked whether he had a patent. I was curious to see how someone in high school could have afforded a patent as the cost is usually north of $30,000. Max mentioned that a patent firm decided to do the application for him on a pro bono basis. I was glad to hear that as our firm does this as well. In fact, there are many pro bono programs across the country for helping inventors get patents. If you qualify, you should certainly apply.
I was also happy to see that the patent firm did a fantastic job. Max was awarded US Patent No. 9,993,011 on June 12, 2018. Here is the first claim.
A cold brew coffee filtration assembly comprising: a closure including: a first side having a first coupling member configured to couple the closure to a first container; a second side having a second coupling member configured to couple the closure to a second container; a filter between the first and the second coupling members; a support member supporting the filter and defining an air channel extending through the support member and across the filter; and a tube configured to be connected to the support member and extend from the first side of the closure proximate to a bottom of the first container when the first container is coupled to the first side of the closure, the tube further defining the air channel; wherein the first coupling member includes first coupling threads configured to cooperate with first container threads of the first container.
It covers his product and should prevent someone from merely copying his design.
Congratulations to Max on getting his company off the ground and for having the ingenuity to contact a law firm to see if they would help out on a pro bono basis.
