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Anyone who develops new products for a living must be aware of a multitude of influences. Acknowledging this, we cover

scientific discoveries

consumer trends

product design and formulation

engineering technology

process engineering

manufacturing

filling and packaging

logistics and distribution

retail merchandising

end of life disposal

Then there are the legal and regulatory issues, such as safety and labelling, as well as intellectual property rights, brand management, competition and international trade that we have to take into account.

But it all means nothing without the creativity and insights of men and women who can put things together in new ways to create new products that improve our lives.

We celebrate those people.

Ian Grant

Publisher

What are we missing?
Global patent needs US OK
Seeing the light in quality control

Launches

What are we missing?

Here’s a press release from Coca-Cola’s Web site. It reads in full:

“Nescafe, a ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee brand, has wowed Hong Kong consumers with its patented ‘flavor lock’ technology that makes it taste fresh-brewed.

"Flavour lock involves a proprietary aroma-retaining formula which ‘locks’ the original flavour and aroma of coffee beans into the drinks by minimizing the loss of the original aroma during production.

“While many other RTD coffees lose their taste and aroma after the production process, consumers are finding that the Nescafe coffees taste like they're fresh from the coffee pot.

“The drinks provide consumers with both the convenience of RTD packages and the original taste of brewed coffee.

“In Hong Kong, the majority of ready-to-drink coffee consumers are adults between 20 and 40 years old who work very hard and deserve a refreshing break during the day. We want to lift their spirits by offering a unique experience - a ready-to-drink coffee that more closely resembles the flavor and aroma of freshly brewed coffee.

“Research shows that consumers find the new patented technology has significantly enhanced the aroma and flavor of the coffee, and that 87 percent of those who tasted the Nescafe RTD coffees intend to buy the product again.

“A range of new Nescafe flavors, including Creme White and Hazelnut Mocha, are available in cans with new packaging graphics.”

A can of Classic to the first person who finds any mention of Big Red. Which raises the interesting idea that Nestlé is deferring to Coke’s marketing expertise, at least in the Far East RTD market.

How long can it be before Nestlé turns over all its marketing and distribution to Coke and becomes simply a contract packer of its own and Coke’s products?

Intellectual property

Global patent needs US OK

Moves to establish a single universal patent regime to protect intellectual property (IP) will come to nothing unless the United States signs up to it.

That won’t be easy. The US protects the rights of the person who thinks up the idea. Most of the rest of the world protects the rights of the person who files for patent protection.

A single patent system would save inventors and their sponsors millions. But who owns the rights to intellectual property is already a hot potato because of the TRIPS agreement, which governs trade rights on IP. Some argue that this proposal unfairly favours developed economies. They say TRIPs is likely to make poor countries hostage to companies that own IP rights even to things that may be unique to that country, such as plant and animal DNA.

For now, getting a global patent costs more than most individuals and small companies can bear. Even if they do patent their invention, they may not be able to protect their rights because of the cost of litigation.

Filings duplicated for different jurisdictions, essential to protect IP in more than one country, represent more than 90 percent of some seven million patent applications a year, says a spokesman for the World Intellectual Property Organisation, the umbrella patent body.

A single global patent system could help cut the workload and hence the costs. But the fundamental question of what is patentable is likely to attract heated debate.

An article in MIT’s Technology Review suggests US inventors may have “to abandon America’s 200-year-old first-to-invent system of settling disputes between rival inventors in favour of the first-to-file criterion that guides most other nations”.

In favour of the first-to-file system is that it’s simple and quick; against it is that it favours rich companies that file early and often. The US system gives a small inventor a chance, but it may cost millions in legal fees to prove he was the first to dream up the idea.

But even big companies dislike the hassle factor that comes with multiple patent systems. IBM, which makes a nice living from its patents, favours harmonisation on the first to file basis. But it would like others to adopt the US’s 12-month grace period during which an investor can speak publicly about his invention without hurting his rights to a patent.

The jury is likely to take its time over this, not least because of the money patent lawyers stand to lose.

NPD

Seeing the light in quality control

A Spanish researcher has patented a way to use polished optical fibres to measure the temperature and relative humidity of the air, the pH of solutions or the refractive index of liquids.

The sensors are small devices capable of capturing both physical and chemical signals from the surrounding environment and converting them into electrical signals for processing.

One of the applications of the new sensors is the study and determination of the refraction index of liquids, in other words, functioning as a refractometer, with the advantage, moreover, of being not only incorporated into the fibre, but also being able to provide the index of non-transparent materials.

A sensor on a production line can tell exactly what is being mixed when different compounds are being mixed in situ, or the concentration of sugar in a solution can be controlled. This application is useful not only for food processing but also all kinds of chemical processes.

More details from www.unavarra.es.