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Patent Case Turns Sticky for Smuckers
Wall Street Journal ^ | 4-7-2005 | SARA SCHAEFER MUÑOZ

Posted on 04/07/2005 8:13:16 AM PDT by Cagey

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1 posted on 04/07/2005 8:13:16 AM PDT by Cagey
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To: Cagey
"So it's smushed!" Judge Raymond Clevenger III declared,
"It is sealed by compression, but it is not smushed," Mr. Vickers explained.

Perry Mason would be so proud to hear such fine dialog...

2 posted on 04/07/2005 8:16:28 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: Cagey
"It is sealed by compression, but it is not smushed," Mr. Vickers explained.

Many young pinnipeds are killed by adults who roll over them. I say they're smushed. But one could say they are sealed by compression.

3 posted on 04/07/2005 8:18:16 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (The fourth estate is a fifth column.)
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To: Cagey
The sad part of this story is that apparently today's parents are too busy to even make a simple PB&J for their kid's lunch-they have to buy a frozen one. For the old school types (like me), this is appalling.
4 posted on 04/07/2005 8:22:03 AM PDT by irishlass
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To: Izzy Dunne
I wonder if Mr. Vickers said that with a straight face....

...of course, I have been known to make similar arguments...

5 posted on 04/07/2005 8:36:03 AM PDT by ContemptofCourt
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To: irishlass

I've tried these. Not bad, but my kids hate them.


6 posted on 04/07/2005 8:36:09 AM PDT by NotSoFreeStater
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To: Izzy Dunne

At one point, another judge, Arthur Gajarsa, said his wife often squeezes together the sides of their child's peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to keep the filling form oozing out. "I'm afraid she might be infringing on your patent!"


7 posted on 04/07/2005 8:36:18 AM PDT by MRMEAN (Nuke the border!)
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To: Cagey

It sounds like Smuckers is in a real ... um... jam.


8 posted on 04/07/2005 8:39:16 AM PDT by Airborne1986 (Well, You can do what you want to us, but we're not going to sit here while you badmouth the U.S.A.)
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To: Airborne1986
Yea, but with a name like Smuckers, you know it has to be good....................jam.
9 posted on 04/07/2005 8:42:38 AM PDT by Cagey
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To: irishlass

My daughter and I said the same thing. Even though she has not purchased any of these for her two, I really doubt that they would prefer then over the home made ones.


10 posted on 04/07/2005 8:51:48 AM PDT by gopheraj
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To: irishlass
The sad part of this story is that apparently today's parents are too busy to even make a simple PB&J for their kid's lunch

I had the exact same thought as I saw these in the store. I couldn't believe that making a sandwich was enough trouble to justify the price point difference between this and just making one yourself. My daughter's a little picky on how her's are made, anyway. Gets it from her mother...

11 posted on 04/07/2005 8:55:39 AM PDT by cspackler (There are 10 kinds of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who don't.)
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To: Cagey
Mr. Vickers also said the sandwich is novel because the filling "encapsulates" jelly between two larger layers of peanut butter.

What a crock. I always make mine like this, with peanut butter on both sides.

SD

12 posted on 04/07/2005 8:58:06 AM PDT by SoothingDave
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To: Cagey

Only in America would people spend extra money for PB & J and then go to court about it.


13 posted on 04/07/2005 8:59:57 AM PDT by right
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To: gopheraj

They were demonstrating them at a local store a month ago, and I finally took a look at them. They have the appearance of uncooked meat pies, pretty unappetizing!


14 posted on 04/07/2005 9:07:35 AM PDT by hunter112 (Total victory, both in the USA and the Middle East!)
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To: Cagey

This regards US Patent No. 6,004,596 which claims:

1. A sealed crustless sandwich, comprising:

a first bread layer having a first perimeter surface coplanar to a contact surface;

at least one filling of an edible food juxtaposed to said contact surface;

a second bread layer juxtaposed to said at least one filling opposite of said first bread layer, wherein said second bread layer includes a second perimeter surface similar to said first perimeter surface;

a crimped edge directly between said first perimeter surface and said second perimeter surface for sealing said at least one filling between said first bread layer and said second bread layer;

wherein a crust portion of said first bread layer and said second bread layer has been removed.



So, has anyone ever done THAT at home?


15 posted on 04/07/2005 9:09:06 AM PDT by Atlas Sneezed (Your FRiendly FReeper Patent Attorney)
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To: irishlass

This may be more about the modern tendency to not have time to sit down and eat. More and more products are sold in forms that are easily packaged to be eaten "on the run". This sandwich is small enough to be held while walking.

Goes along with the drinkable yogurt and dozens of other "portable" food products.


16 posted on 04/07/2005 9:14:02 AM PDT by CharlesWayneCT (http://spaces.msn.com/members/criticallythinking)
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To: Cagey
There is no deadline for the court's decision, but lawyers in the case said it could take several months.

Darn right it will. Some (Not all) patent attornies awaken in the middle of the night in cold terror sweats at the thought of a well-searched and well-prepared application sailing through the Patent Process with few problems or office actions.

Fewer billable hours.

I know of a startup whose backers demanded that they use a boutique law firm..a NAME as it were.

More than three years later, there is no issue, and the startup has been bled and looted and may fail. The NAME has run up hundreds of thousands from dealing with "Problems".

We just fired an IP Law firm for going into a coma on a number of our applications, while still billing and billing.

It seems to have gotten to the point where a patent is only valuable to the law firm, and the above discussion of the rheology of peanut butter and jelly could support that.

17 posted on 04/07/2005 9:15:16 AM PDT by Gorzaloon
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To: SoothingDave

Yes, but do you smush yours?


18 posted on 04/07/2005 9:24:11 AM PDT by doggieboy (Bush's exit strategy for Iraq is through Iran.)
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To: Cagey; Gorzaloon
*sigh* ...Unbelievable...way too many lawyers, Metro Washington D.C. area (1988) has more lawyers (sharks) than the entire nation of Japan.
19 posted on 04/07/2005 10:25:37 AM PDT by skinkinthegrass (Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you :^)
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To: Cagey; Gorzaloon
*sigh*..(year of 1990ish)..
20 posted on 04/07/2005 10:26:57 AM PDT by skinkinthegrass (Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you :^)
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